LETTERS  FROM  AN  OLD 
RAILWAY  OFFICIAL 


SECOND  SERIES 
HIS  SON,  A  GENERAL  MANAGER 


BY 

CHARLES  DELANO 


1912 

Published  by  the 

SIMMONS-BOARDMAN  PUBLISHING  CO. 

NEW  YORK 

McGraw-Hill  Book  Company,  Sole  Selling  Agents 

239  West  Thirty-ninth  Street,  New  York 
London,  E.  C.,  6  Bouverie  Street.        Berlin,  N.  W.  7,  Unter  der  Linden  71 


.COPYRIGHT,  1912,  BY 

SlMMONS-BOARDMAN   PUBLISHING  Co. 
NEW  YORK 


FOREWORD. 

The  author  of  the  letters  composing  this  book, 
which  appeared  serially  in  the  Railway  Age  Ga- 
zette in  1911,  is  a  West  Point  graduate.  He 
served  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  6th  United  States 
Infantry.  He  is  a  civil  engineer.  He  is  a  gradu- 
ate of  the  Cincinnati  Law  School.  Leaving  the 
Army  to  enter  railway  service,  he  worked  as 
freight  brakeman,  switchman,  yardmaster,  emer- 
gency conductor,  chief  clerk  to  superintendent, 
and  trainmaster.  When  the  war  with  Spain  be- 
gan in  1898  he  quit  railway  service  and  partici- 
pated in  the  Santiago  campaign  as  a  major  of 
volunteers.  After  the  war  he  re-entered  railway 
work,  and  was  trainmaster  and  later  general 
superintendent.  Subsequently,  he  did  special 
railway  work  in  various  staff  positions  for  both 
large  and  small  railways  in  the  United  States, 
Canada  and  Mexico. 

He  was  for  a  time  inspector  of  safety  appli- 
ances for  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission. 
In  1907  he  assisted  in  the  revision  of  the  busi- 
ness methods  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior 
at  Washington,  D.  C.  Then  he  was  receiver  of 
the  Washington,  Arlington  &  Falls  Church  Elec- 
tric Railway.  In  1910,  as  temporary  special  rep- 
resentative of  President  Taft,  he  outlined  a 
scheme  for  improving  the  organization  and 
methods  of  the  executive  departments  of  the 
iii 


458642 


FOREWORD. 

United  States  government.  Meantime,  in  July, 
1908,  he  had  become  special  representative  of 
Mr.  Julius  Kruttschnitt,  director  of  maintenance 
and  operation  of  the  Harriman  Lines,  and  had 
entered  on  a  study  of  the  needs  of  the  operating 
organization  of  those  railways  and  of  the  means 
that  should  be  adopted  to  meet  those  needs.  The 
result  of  this  work  was  the  adoption  by  most  of 
the  Harriman  Lines  of  the  unit  system  of  organi- 
zation. On  January  15,  1912,  Major  Hine  be- 
came vice-president  and  general  manager  of  the 
Southern  Pacific  Lines  in  Mexico  and  the  Ari- 
zona Eastern,  having  about  1,600  miles  of  rail- 
way. 

The  foregoing  details  have  not  been  given  for 
biographical  purposes.  They  have  been  given  to 
enable  the  reader  to  understand  the  author's 
point  of  view.  Or,  rather,  his  points  of  view. 
For  few  men  have  had  opportunity  to  look  at  the 
railway  business  from  so  many  angles,  both  prac- 
tical and  theoretical.  Given  such  an  education, 
such  a  training,  such  a  varied  experience,  and  a 
keen  observer's  eye  to  see,  an  active,  logical  mind 
to  generalize,  and  a  graphic,  witty,  scintillant 
English  style  to  set  down  the  results  of  observa- 
tion, experience  and  thinking,  and,  if  their  pos- 
sessor turn  to  writing,  the  product  is  sure  to  be 
literature  of  interest  and  value.  The  readers  of 
Major  Hine's  first  series  of  letters,  "Letters  of 
an  Old  Railway  Official  to  His  Son,  a  Division 
Superintendent,"  found  them  at  once  entertain- 
ing, suggestive  and  instructive.  They  will  find 
equally  or  more  so  the  second  series,  written  after 
a  wider  experience,  and  now  embodied  in  this 
volume. 


IV 


FOREWORD. 

One  of  the  greatest  problems  of  modern  rail- 
way management  is  that  of  organization.  Little 
railways  have  been  combined  into  big  ones ;  and 
big  railways  have  been  consolidated  into  big  sys- 
tems. To  so  organize  these  extensive  systems 
that  each  division  and  each  railway  shall  have 
enough  individuality  and  autonomy  to  deal  effec- 
tively and  satisfactorily  with  the  conditions  and 
needs  local  to  it,  and  at  the  same  time  bring 
about  the  correlation  and  unification  of  all  parts 
of  the  entire  system  essential  to  the  most  efficient 
operation — this  is  one  phase  of  the  problem.  To 
develop  men  able  to  administer  skilfully  depart- 
ments having  many  and  varied  branches — this  is 
another  phase.  It  was  as  a  means  to  solving  this 
great  problem  that  Major  Hine  worked  out  the 
unit  system  of  organization  now  in  effect  on  most 
parts  of  the  Harriman  system.  In  the  letters 
composing  this  book  he  has  described,  not  with 
the  cold,  hard  outlines  of  a  blue  print,  but  vividly, 
and  with  fullness  of  practical  illustration,  trie 
nature,  purposes  and  workings  of  the  unit  sys- 
tem. Whether  the  reader  agrees  with  the  au- 
thor's views  or  not,  he  cannot  but  be  interested 
in  them  as  the  views  regarding  a  scheme  of  or- 
ganization which  is  the  subject  of  widespread 
interest  and  discussion  of  the  man  who  origi- 
nated and  worked  out  that  scheme  of  organiza- 
tion. 

Besides  organization  the  letters  deal  with 
many  other  questions  of  practical  interest  both 
large  and  small — with  the  relations  of  the  railway 
with  the  public ;  its  regulation  by  public  bodies ; 
the  labor  situation  on  the  railways,  etc.  Indeed, 
they  touch  on  almost  every  phase  of  contempo- 


FOREWORD. 

rary  railway  conditions  and  operation.  Full  of 
human  touches,  they  clothe  the  skeleton  of^  rail- 
way organization  and  operation  with  flesh  and 
blood;  and  will  give  the  current  reader  and  the 
future  historian  a  better  picture  of  contemporary 
railway  working  than  many  more  stilted  and  pre- 
tentious books. 

SAMUEL  O.  DUNN. 


VI 


FILE  NUMBERS. 

LETTER    I. 
The    New    General    Manager I 

LETTER   II. 
Building    an    Organization 10 

LETTER   III. 
The  General  Manager  on  the  Witness  Stand 20 

LETTER    IV. 
Further  Gruelling  of  the  General  Manager 32 

LETTER    V. 
Limitations  of  the  Chief  Clerk  System 43 

LETTER   VI. 
Preventing,   Instead   of  Paying,   Claims 52 

LETTER   VII. 
The  Chief  of  Staff  Idea 63 

LETTER  VIII. 
The   Unit    System 73 

LETTER    IX. 
Standardizing  Office   Files 88 

LETTER   X. 
The  Line  and  the  Staff 100 

LETTER  XI. 

The  Problem  of  the  Get-Rich-Quick  Conductor.     112 
vii 


LETTER   XII. 
The  Labor  Nemesis  and  the  Manager 126 

LETTER    XIII. 
A  Department  of  Inspection,  or  Efficiency 136 

LETTER    XIV. 
Preserving   Organization   Integrity 146 

LETTER    XV. 
The  Size  of  an  Operating  Division 156 

LETTER   XVI. 
Supplies   and   Purchases '. .     168 

LETTER   XVII. 
Correspondence    and    Explanations 181 

LETTER   XVIII. 
Organization  of  the  Ideal  Railroad 192 

LETTER  XIX. 
The   Engineering  of   Men 205 

LETTER   XX. 
The  Fallacy  of  the  Train-Mile  Unit 214 

LETTER  XXI. 
The  Man-Day  as  a  Unit , 224 

Appendix    .228 


via 


Letters  From  A  Railway  Official 


LETTER  I. 

THE  NEW  GENERAL  MANAGER. 

Chicago,  April  8,  1911. 

My  Dear  Boy : — Once  more  a  circular  comes 
to  gladden  my  heart  and  gratify  my  pride. 
This  circular  announces  your  appointment  as 
general  manager,  a  position  of  honor  and  im- 
portance, extensive  in  its  opportunities  for 
good  administration  as  well  as  for  wasteful 
neglect. 

Some  seven  years  ago,  when  you  were  a  di- 
vision superintendent,  I  wrote  you  a  book  of 
letters  which  caused  us  both  to  be  taken  more 
seriously  than  perhaps  we  shall  ever  be  again. 
Can  T.  R.  come  back?  I  don't  know,  I  am 
sure,  but  your  old  Dad  can  and  will.  For 
never  before  in  our  splendid  profession  of  rail- 
roading has  there  been  greater  need  for  the 
wisdom  of  old  age,  the  enthusiasm  of  youth, 
and  the  balanced  execution  of  middle  life.  We, 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 


the  railways,  we  the  most  scattered  and,  ergo, 
the  most  exposed  of  property  rights,  are  the 
first  of  the  outposts  to  receive  and  to  repel  the 
assaults  of  anarchy  and  its  smaller  sister,  so- 
cialism. Subtle,  sinister,  and  specious  is  the 
reasoning  which  supports  the  claims  of  those 
who  single  out  the  arteries  of  inland  commerce 
as  a  thing  apart,  as  something  immune  to  the 
irresistible  laws  of  cause  and  effect.  Shall  we 
sit  idly  by,  because  we  have  had  our  part  ?  No, 
my  son.  In  that  inspiring  painting,  'The 
Spirit  of  '76,"  the  old  man  and  the  boy,  equals 
in  enthusiasm,  typify  the  soul  love  of  liberty  of 
an  aroused  people.  Let  you  and  I,  therefore, 
do  our  little  part  to  call  to  arms  our  brethren 
of  a  nation-long  village  street.  Perhaps  we 
are  only  hired  hands  of  imaginary  "interests." 
Perhaps,  nevertheless,  we  are  liberty-loving, 
God-fearing,  right-thinking  American  citizens. 
Perhaps  we  do  not  need  to  be  backed  into  the 
last  corner  before  we  turn  and  stand  for  the 
God-given  rights  for  which  men  of  all  ages 
have  been  willing  to  fight  and  die.  Perhaps  the 
muck-rakers  have  not  procured  all  the  patents 
pertaining  to  perfection,  potential  or  pro- 
nounced. But  be  that  as  it  may,  you  and  I 
can  at  least  be  heard,  can  have  our  day  in  the 


THE  NEW  GENERAL  MANAGER. 

forum  of  public  opinion,  which  after  all  is  the 
court  of  last  resort.  In  the  language  of  Mr. 
Dooley,  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court 
follow  the  popular  elections. 

What  shall  we  do  to  be  saved?  First,  put 
our  own  house  in  order  that  example  may  pro- 
tect precept.  It  is  a  pretty  good  house  after 
all.  Only  eighty  years  old  to  be  sure,  short  in 
epochs  of  experience,  but  relatively  long  in 
aeons  of  achievement.  It  already  has  some 
degenerate  offspring,  but  mighty  few  when 
you  consider  the  rapidity  of  forced  breeding, 
the  intensity  of  incubation.  Transportation,  ac- 
knowledged as  second  only  to  agriculture  in 
the  world's  great  industries,  has  advanced 
faster  and  further  in  eight  decades  than  has 
agriculture  in  eight  centuries.  That  is  some- 
thing to  be  proud  of.  Therein  is  glory  enough 
for  us  all. 

Unfortunately,  pride  goeth  before  destruc- 
tion. In  the  bivouac  of  the  living,  glory  is  a 
mighty  unreliable  sentinel.  Let  us  hang  up 
pride  and  glory  as  our  Sunday-go-to-meeting 
clothes.  Let  us  don  consistent  practice  and 
tenacious  watchfulness  for  week-day  wear. 
Let  us  cease  to  temporize  with  principle  when 
such  unmanly  action  seems  easy  and  inexpen- 
3 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

sive.  Nothing  is  so  expensive  ultimately  as  a 
violation  of  principle.  A  platitude,  you  say. 
So  it  is.  The  aforesaid  T.  R.  has  gained  a 
great  hold  on  the  American  people,  at  one  time 
a  strangle  hold,  by  repeating  platitudes  over 
and  over  again.  Great  is  the  man  who  can 
measure  the  limitations  of  his  fellows.  Let 
us  take  a  leaf  from  his  book  and  repeat,  reiter- 
ate, and  reverberate  the  Ten  Commandments, 
and  the  greatest  of  all  commandments,  the 
Golden  Rule,  alias  the  Square  Deal. 

It  takes  an  abnormally  intelligent  people  to 
grasp  at  first  blush  the  truism  that  railways 
should  charge  "what  the  traffic  will  bear"  for 
the  same  good  reason  that  the  corner  grocer 
makes  all  the  profit  the  business  will  survive. 
Therefore,  put  the  soft  pedal  on  cost  of  service 
and  a  fair  return  on  capital  invested. 

Get  on  the  band  wagon  and  follow  the  able 
lead  of  the  good  old  Railway  Age  Gazette  in 
playing  the  logical  tune  of  value  of  service 
rendered,  of  charging  all  the  admission  fee 
the  show  will  stand.  The  people  will  not  go 
to  church  to  hear  our  preaching.  We  must 
reach  them  in  the  highways  and  the  byways, 
in  the  moving  picture  shows,  and  through  im- 
provised Salvation  Armies  of  self-interest.  Do 
4 


THE  NEW  GENERAL  MANAGER. 

not  expect  the  people  to  espouse  a  cause  in 
which  we  are  half-hearted.  Either  we  are 
right  or  we  are  wrong.  Either  the  govern- 
ment should  own  and  run  the  railways,  or  the 
stockholders  should  retain  possession  and  we, 
the  intelligent  entrepreneur  class,  should  con- 
tinue our  scientific  management — for  scientific 
it  has  been. 

In  a  world  of  complexities,  filled  with  rela- 
tive things,  some  truths  are  so  absolute  that 
they  are  axiomatic,  some  positions  so  pro- 
nounced that  there  is  no  middle  ground.  From 
Trafalgar  there  rings  through  the  ages  Nel- 
son's signal,  "England  expects  every  man  to 
do  his  duty."  Its  interpretation  and  its  adapta- 
tion for  us  to-day  mean  that  every  railroad 
man,  every  home  lover,  every  believer  in  prop- 
erty rights  must  defend  the  sound  position  of 
the  railways,  must  anticipate  the  assaults  of 
pseudo-socialism.  The  individual  is  the  indi- 
visible unit  of  society.  The  family  is  the  con- 
secrated unit  of  civilization.  The  home  is  the 
prime  requisite  for  the  family  whose  very  ex- 
istence depends  upon  the  right  of  property, 
tangible  or  intangible. 

You  say  that  all  railway  men  are  doing 
something  along  this  line.  So  they  are,  but 
5 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

nearly  every  one  can  do  more  if  intelligently 
and  persistently  directed.  We  have  taken  too 
much  for  granted  in  believing  that  the  legal  de- 
partment would  look  out  for  legislation,  and 
the  press  agent  for  publicity.  This  phase,  like 
many  of  our  problems,  is  a  question  of  organi- 
zation, which  itself  as  a  science  is  a  branch  of 
sociology.  On  most  railways  some  department 
— never,  of  course,  our  own — has  uncon- 
sciously tried  to  be  bigger  than  the  whole  com- 
pany, in  violation  of  the  axiom  that  the  whole 
is  greater  than  any  of  its  parts.  When,  by 
proper  organization,  we  balance  these  depart- 
ments— especially  on  the  other  fellow's  road 
— we  shall  be  in  a  better  position  to  present  a 
more  united  front  in  forestalling  the  arrival  of 
the  common  enemy,  prejudice  and  his  principal 
ally,  ignorance.  "Men,"  says  Marcus  Aurelius, 
"exist  for  one  another.  Teach  them,  then,  or 
bear  with  them."  We,  the  railroads,  have  done 
our  share  of  bearing.  It  is  time  to  do  more 
teaching.  Before  we  can  impart  knowledge 
we  must  know  ourselves,  we  must  be  sure  of 
our  own  information. 

Naturally,  I  want  you  to  be  the  best  general 
manager  in  the  country.    Therefore,  if  I  am  a 
little  too  didactic  at  times,  you  must  be  patient 
6 


THE  NEW  GENERAL  MANAGER. 

with  me.  Of  course,  you  will  have  to  work 
out  your  conclusions  for  yourself.  Remember 
that  I  am  too  old  at  this  teaching  game  to  try 
always  to  think  for  other  people.  My  job  is 
so  to  state  the  propositions  that  you  will  reach 
the  answers  in  your  own  way.  Incidentally, 
the  more  you  think  you  have  discovered  for 
yourself,  the  greater  the  credit  due  your 
teacher.  Men  are  only  boys  grown  tall.  As 
grown-up  children  they  seem  to  prefer  the  mis- 
fits of  their  own  manufacture  to  the  hand-me- 
down  assortment  from  the  shelves  of  stored 
experience.  Too  often  the  employing  corpora- 
tion pays  the  bill  for  educating  an  official  for 
his  duties  after  his  promotion  and  appointment, 
for  the  cloth  he  wastes  in  selecting  unwise  pat- 
terns of  procedure. 

Most  of  our  large  corporations  are  still  in 
a  stage  of  industrial  feudalism.  In  the  middle 
ages  the  feudal  baron  and  his  methods  were 
absolutely  essential  to  preserve  civilization  for 
society.  Without  him  and  his  forceful  ways 
the  relapse  to  barbarism  would  have  been 
rapid.  In  the  earlier  periods  of  the  large  cor- 
poration the  industrial  baron  and  his  ofttimes 
lawless  audacity  were  essentials  of  corporate 
existence.  As  these  great  types  die  off,  their 
7 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

system  dies  with  them.  Supply  keeps  close  on 
the  heels  of  demand.  These  feudal  barons  of 
industry  and  commerce  are  breeding  no  suc- 
cessors because  none  are  needed.  As  a  govern- 
ment of  laws  succeeds  a  government  of  men, 
so  administration  by  system  displaces  adminis- 
tration by  personal  caprice.  The  scheme  of 
progress  now  demands  a  higher  type  of  cor- 
poration official,  and  he  is  being  rapidly  de- 
veloped. Altruism,  adaptability,  consideration 
and  courtesy  are  the  more  modern  require- 
ments. The  successful  official  of  to-day  is 
more  of  a  sociologist  than  ever  before.  He 
must  study  human  nature  from  its  broadest 
aspects.  He  must  know  the  public,  its  whims 
and  caprices,  its  faults  and  foibles,  its  intelli- 
gence and  its  strength.  He  must  learn  to  know 
his  men  that  he  may  see  how  many  things  they 
can  do,  not  how  few.  Human  nature  is  mighty 
good  stuff.  The  more  it  is  trusted  the  better  it 
responds.  The  feudal  baron  did  not  know 
this.  He  was  jealous  of  his  own  authority,  be- 
cause more  or  less  conscious  of  his  limitations, 
of  the  weakness  of  his  system.  Those  who 
take  up  his  self-imposed  responsibilities  must 
be  better  men.  They  must  be  so  sure  of  them- 
selves and  of  the  science  of  their  methods  that 
8 


THE  NEW  GENERAL  MANAGER. 

they  can  trust  others,  can  delegate  authority  to 
the  man  on  the  ground.  The  task  of  the  gen- 
eral manager  to-day  is  so  to  decentralize  au- 
thority that  the  company  can  obtain  the  best 
thought  of  the  humblest  employe,  that  indi- 
visible unit  of  society  whom  his  feudal  su- 
periors have  trusted  too  little.  The  most  im- 
portant unit  of  organization  is  the  individual. 
Give  him  his  due  weight  as  a  living,  thinking 
man,  and  you  increase  the  mass  efficiency  of 
the  corporation. 

This  run  is  too  heavy  for  stringing  on  one 
schedule.  I  am  now  giving  you  the  first  ter- 
minal figure,  12.01  a.  m.  at  Problem.  Next 
time  if  I  can  push  you  to  Principle  you  can  per- 
haps flag  over  a  station  or  two  toward  the 
despatcher  at  Understanding,  whose  wires 
have  been  known  to  go  down  in  stormy 
weather. 

With  a  father's  blessing, 

Your  affectionate  and  rejuvenated, 

D.  A.  D. 


LETTER  II. 

BUILDING  AN  ORGANIZATION. 

Chicago,  April  15,  1911. 

My  Dear  Boy: — Nearly  every  man  en- 
trusted with  authority  over  his  fellows  flatters 
himself  that  he  is  a  born  organizer.  Flattery 
is  never  more  deceptive  than  when  applied  to 
one's  self. 

For  every  good  organizer  there  are  a  hun- 
dred good  administrators  or  managers.  What 
often  passes  for  good  organization  is  first  class 
administration.  Yes,  many  a  mother's  son  who 
reads  this  will  exclaim  at  first  blush,  "That  is 
just  what  I  have  been  saying  for  a  long  time. 
It  beats  all  how  weak  some  organizations  are. 
I  am  glad  that  my  organization  can  stand  the 
test  of  such  criticism." 

If  elements  of  self -perpetuation  are  prime 
essentials  of  good  organization,  the  Pharisee 
family  are  certainly  entitled  to  bid  in  the  pre- 
ferred runs. 

The  corporation  was  evolved  to  supply  a  de- 
mand of  society.  Life,  property,  material, 
10 


BUILDING  AN  ORGANIZATION. 

moral  and  spiritual  welfare  could  not  be  left 
to  depend  upon  the  uncertain  earthly  existence 
of  the  leader  or  trustee.  So,  both  rationally 
and  empirically,  by  reason  and  by  costly  ex- 
periment, came  the  corporation  to  beat  Death 
at  his  own  game.  Like  all  progress  the  cor- 
poration was  resisted,  because  in  the  divine 
scheme  of  things  the  radicals  never  long  out- 
number the  conservatives.  Like  all  real  prog- 
ress the  corporation  idea  won  because  it  was 
needed.  The  corporation,  whether  govern- 
mental, religious,  industrial  or  commercial, 
marks  a  distinct  advance  from  feudalism  by 
protecting  the  rights  of  the  many  against  the 
caprice  of  the  few.  Because  we  have  moved 
so  fast  might  has  often  seemed  to  be  right. 
Because  the  line  of  least  resistance  is  the  most 
attractive,  we  have  sometimes  backed  down  the 
hill  and  doubled  when  a  good  run  with  plenty 
of  sand  would  have  carried  us  over.  Large 
corporations,  including  many  railways,  have 
often  failed  to  attain  maximum  efficiency. 
Much  of  this  can  be  traced  to  a  neglect  to  carry 
out  consistently  in  practice  the  sound  working 
conception  of  the  corporation.  The  corpora- 
tion has  helped  society  to  emerge  from  political 
and  financial  feudalism.  The  interior  organi- 
ii 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

zation  and  administration  of  most  corpora- 
tions, including  government  itself,  are  still  too 
feudal  in  conception.  The  problem  of  to-day 
is  so  to  eradicate  this  feudalism  that  the  cor- 
poration can  have  the  benefit  of  a  free  play  of 
its  constituent  forces.  Where  feudalism  exists 
the  effective  working  strength  is  limited  to  the 
personal  equation  of  the  man  at  the  head.  The 
United  States  government  is  stronger  than 
Washington,  or  Lincoln,  or  Taft.  The  Great 
Northern  Railway  measures  its  present  ac- 
knowledged effectiveness  by  the  man  the 
Swedes  call  Yim  Hill.  The  United  States  gov- 
ernment grows  stronger  with  every  adminis- 
tration. The  Great  Northern  Railway,  too 
strong  to  be  destroyed,  faces  a  period  of  rela- 
tive distress  with  the  next  dynasty.  The  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad  is  stronger  than  such  strong 
men  as  Scott,  Cassatt  and  McCrea.  Both  the 
United  States  government  and  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad,  although  among  the  least 
feudal  of  large  corporations,  can  still  eradicate 
feudalism  from  their  interior  organization  and 
administration.  That,  in  good  time,  both  will 
do  so  cannot  be  doubted.  Inconsistencies  be- 
tween comprehensive  conceptions  at  the  top 
and  narrow  applications  at  the  bottom  are 

12 


BUILDING  AN  ORGANIZATION. 

often  overlooked.  When  disclosed  and  ap- 
preciated these  incongruities  soon  give  way 
under  pressure  of  the  broad  policies  above. 
We  must  build  up  from  the  bottom  but  tear 
down  our  false  work  from  the  top. 

Organization  is  a  branch  of  a  larger  subject, 
sociology,  the  science  of  human  nature.  Or- 
ganization is  not  an  exact  science  like  me- 
chanical engineering,  for  example.  The  va- 
riables in  the  human  equation  defy  entire  elimi- 
nation. We  check  and  recheck  engineering 
conclusions.  We  compute  and  recompute  ma- 
terial strains  and  stresses.  We  run  and  double 
back  with  the  dynamometer  car  to  try  out  our 
tractive  power.  We  test  and  retest  materials. 
We  weigh  and  measure  our  fuel  and  our  lubri- 
cants. We  do  all  this  for  material  things, 
which,  because  more  or  less  homogeneous,  are 
the  easiest  to  measure.  When  we  come  to  the 
really  hard  part,  the  judging  of  human  nature, 
the  co-ordination  of  the  heterogeneous  human 
elements,  our  self-confidence  denies  the  ne- 
cessity for  preconceived  practical  tests.  Be- 
cause he  is  our  man,  because  he  followed  us 
from  the  sage  brush  or  the  mountains,  he  must 
be  all  right.  "Jtist  look  at  our  results."  Right 
there,  my  boy,  shut  off  and  pinch  'em  down  a 
13 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

little.  What  are  results  ?  Does  any  one  know 
exactly?  One  year  they  are  operating  ratio, 
another,  train  load,  and  later  on,  net  earnings. 
In  no  storehouse  do  material  things  deteriorate 
to  scrap  value  faster  than  does  the  intangible, 
indeterminate  stock  article,  results.  No,  I 
am  not  a  pessimist ;  I  still  see  the  ring  of  the 
doughnut  on  the  lunch  counter.  But  I  do 
object  to  being  fed  on  birds  from  year  before 
last's  nests.  I  believe  the  railways  hatch  out 
better  results  every  year,  but  I  also  feel  that 
improvement  should  and  can  be  made  even 
faster.  It  is  largely  a  breeding  problem.  How 
best  can  we  blend  our  numerous  strains  to  pro- 
duce a  balanced  output?  Too  often  we  try  to 
do  this  by  cutting  off  the  heads  of  all  the  old 
roosters,  whose  craws  really  contain  too  much 
good  sand  to  be  wasted.  A  change  of  diet  to  a 
balanced  ration  may  be  all-sufficient. 

The  wonderful  Nineteenth  Century  in  the 
name  of  a  proper  specialization  went  too  far. 
It  over-specialized.  The  still  more  wonderful 
Twentieth  Century  will  swing  back  to  a  bal- 
anced specialization.  The  medical  colleges  are 
learning  that  they  can  not  turn  out  successful 
eye  and  ear  specialists,  the  law  schools  that  the 
constitutional  or  interstate  commerce  lawyer  is 
14 


BUILDING  AN  ORGANIZATION. 

the  production  of  a  later  period.  The  success- 
ful specialist  must  first  have  the  foundation 
of  an  all-round  training.  Broadly  speaking, 
one  applies  everything  of  something  only  by 
learning  something  of  everything.  We  all  be- 
lieve in  specialization.  Where  we  differ  is  as 
to  the  point  where  specialization  stops  and 
overspecialization  begins.  We  all  believe  in 
religion.  Where  we  differ  is  as  to  which  is 
the  main  line  and  which  the  runaway  track,  as 
to  which  derail  deserves  a  distant  banjo  signal 
and  which  an  upper  quadrant.  Orthodoxy  is 
usually  my  doxy.  The  great  fear  is  always 
that  the  other  fellow,  being  less  orthodox  than 
we,  will  try  to  put  over  some  constructive  mile- 
age on  us.  Sometimes  this  causes  us  to  make 
his  run  so  long  and  his  train  so  heavy  that  he 
ties  up  under  the  sixteen-hour  law  and  we  miss 
supper  hour  going  out  to  tow  him  in.  An 
empty  stomach  discourages  drowsiness,  and  we 
may  then  stay  awake  long  enough  tp  realize 
that  said  other  fellow  was  just  as  orthodox  as 
anybody  about  trying  to  make  a  good  run. 

The  corollary  of  specialization  is  centraliza- 
tion. The  undesirable  corollary  of  overspecial- 
ization is  overcentralization.  Get  out  your  de- 
tour map,  approach  this  proposition  by  any 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

route  of  reasoning  you  please,  and  you  will 
reach  the  same  conclusion. 

Railway  administration  to-day  suffers  most 
of  all  from  overcentralization.  Trace  this  to 
its  source  and  you  will  find  overspecialization 
of  function,  and  its  concomitant,  an  exagger- 
ated value  of  certain  constituent  elements  of 
administration.  When  in  doubt,  recall  the  ever 
applicable  axiom  that  the  whole  is  greater  than 
any  of  its  parts.  Some  people  confuse  the 
terms  and  ideas,  concentration  and  centraliza- 
tion. Proper  concentration  in  complete  units 
by  an  earlier  convergence  of  authority  permits 
decentralization  in  administration.  A  lack  of 
such  early  concentration  makes  centralization 
inevitable.  Again,  concentration  of  financial 
control  is  not  incompatible  with  decentraliza- 
tion of  administration  among  constituent  con- 
trolled properties.  When  the  big  bankers  have 
time  to  think  out  these  propositions  for  them- 
selves they  will  permit  the  railways  to  get 
closer  to  the  people  and  hostile  legislation  will 
diminish  if  not  disappear. 

Organization  as  a  science  seeks  to  develop 

and  to  support  the  strong  qualities  of  human 

nature.     Organization  likewise  takes  account 

of  and  seeks  to  minimize  the  amiable  failings 

16 


BUILDING  AN  ORGANIZATION. 

of  human  nature.  Constitutional  liberty  in- 
sures the  citizen  protection  against  the  caprice 
of  the  public  officer.  Administrative  liberty 
demands  an  analogous  measure  of  protection 
for  the  subordinate  from  the  whim  of  his  cor- 
porate superior.  An  amiable  failing  of  many 
a  railway  president  is  to  be  satisfied  with  hav- 
ing everybody  under  his  own  authority,  and  to 
forget  that  the  official  next  below  may  be  em- 
barrassed by  having  only  a  partial  control.  The 
general  manager  who  insists  the  hardest  that 
his  superintendents  are  best  off  under  his  de- 
partmental system  will  squirm  the  quickest  un- 
der the  acid  test  of  having  the  chief  supply,  the 
chief  maintenance  or  the  chief  mechanical  of- 
ficial report  to  the  president.  The  superinten- 
dent who  finds  himself  with  a  complete  divi- 
sional organization  is  oblivious  to  the  troubles 
of  a  distant  yardmaster  with  car  inspectors. 
When  your  old  Dad  was  a  ninety-dollar  yard- 
master  some  of  his  most  important  work  was 
at  the  mercy  of  a  forty-five  dollar  car  inspector. 
The  latter  was  under  a  master  mechanic  a  hun- 
dred miles  or  more  away,  who  in  turn  could 
usually  and  properly  count  on  the  support  of 
the  superintendent  of  motive  power.  The  ob- 
vious inference  was  to  relieve  the  yardmaster 
17 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

of  responsibility  for  mechanical  matters. 
From  one  viewpoint  these  mechanical  ques- 
tions are  too  highly  technical  for  the  yard- 
master.  From  another  they  are  matters  of 
common  sense  requiring  more  good  judgment 
than  technical  training.  No,  I  would  not  put 
every  yardmaster  over  the  roundhouse  fore- 
man and  the  car  inspectors.  What  I  would 
do  would  be  to  make  the  position  of  yard- 
master  sufficiently  attractive  to  impose  as  a  pre- 
requisite for  appointment  a  knowledge  of  me- 
chanical as  well  as-  transportation  matters. 
Gradually  I  would  work  away  from  the  switch- 
man or  trainman  specialist  to  the  all-'round 
man  in  whom  I  could  concentrate  authority  as 
the  head  of  an  important  sub-unit  of  organiza- 
tion. Instead  of  leveling  downward,  as  the 
labor  unions  do,  by  assuming  that  the  average 
man  can  learn  only  one  branch  of  operation,  I 
would  recognize  individuality  and  gradually 
develop  a  higher  composite  type.  Because  some 
car  inspectors  are  not  fitted  to  become  yard- 
masters  is  no  good  reason  for  practically  ex- 
cluding all  car  inspectors  from  honorable  com- 
petition for  such  advancement.  When  we 
build  a  department  wall  to  keep  the  other  fel- 
low out  we  sometimes  find  it  has  kept  us  in. 
18 


BUILDING  AN  ORGANIZATION. 

We  blame  the  labor  unions  for  these  narrow- 
ing restrictions  of  employment  and  advance- 
ment. Look  once  more  for  the  source,  and  you 
will  find  it  among  our  predecessors  in  the  of- 
ficial class,  a  generation  or  more  ago.  These 
officials  insisted  upon  planes  of  department 
cleavage  which  the  men  below  were  quick  to 
recognize.  Railway  manhood  has  been  more 
dwarfed  by  exaggerated  official  idea  of  spe- 
cialization with  resulting  departmental  jeal- 
ousies than  by  the  labor  unions. 

Therefore,  my  boy,  let  us  get  some  of  these 
inconsistencies  out  of  our  own  optics  before 
we  talk  too  much  about  the  dust  that  seems  to 
blind  the  eyes  of  those  who  are  exposed  to  the 
breezes  of  that  world  famous  thoroughfare 
which  faces  old  Trinity  Church  in  New  York. 
Affectionately,  your  own, 
D.  A.  D. 


LETTER  III. 

THE  GENERAL  MANAGER  ON  THE  WITNESS 
STAND. 

Chicago,  April  22,  1911. 
My  Dear  Boy: — Did  it  ever  occur  to  you 
how  easily  a  bright  lawyer  could  tangle  up 
many  an  able  railway  official  on  the  witness 
stand?  Nowadays  we  have  to  spend  more  or 
less  valuable  time  testifying  about  service, 
rates,  capitalization,  valuation,  practices,  meth- 
ods, and  a  score  of  other  things  that  become 
of  public  interest.  Whether  this  is  just  or  un- 
just, necessary  or  unnecessary,  is  beside  the 
question.  It  is  a  condition,  not  a  theory,  that 
confronts  us.  The  wise  railway  man,  there- 
fore, so  orders  his  official  life  that  it  may  en- 
dure the  scrutiny  of  both  the  persecutor  and 
the  prosecutor,  of  both  the  inquisitor  and  the 
investigator,  of  both  the  muckraker  and  the 
political  economist.  It  sometimes  happens, 
since  men  are  only  boys  grown  tall,  that  pub- 
lic hearings  are  accompanied  by  stage  settings 
for  dramatic  effect;  that  trifling  inconsisten- 
cies are  magnified  into  egregious  errors.  Let 
20 


THE  GENERAL  MANAGER  ON  THE  STAND. 

me  picture  part  of  such  a  hearing  with  a  gen- 
eral manager  on  the  stand : 

Question:  You  testified,  Mr.  General  Man- 
ager, on  the  direct  examination  that  your  road 
is  well  managed  and  has  a  highly  efficient  or- 
ganization, did  you  not? 

Answer :  Yes,  sir,  we  think  we  have  one  of 
the  best  in  the  country. 

Q.  Would  you  mind  telling  the  able  mem- 
bers of  this  Honorable  Commission  in  just 
what  your  superiority  consists  ? 

A.  Not  at  all,  sir.  In  the  first  place,  we 
have  a  great  deal  of  harmony  and  work  very 
closely  together. 

Q.  Did  you  ever  know  a  railway  official 
who  did  not  claim  the  same  thing  for  that  part 
of  the  organization  over  which  he  presided? 

A.  (Hesitating.)  Well,  now  that  you  men- 
tion it,  I  can't  say  that  I  ever  did.  (Sudden 
inspiration.)  But  you  know  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  bluffing  in  this  world. 

Q.  (Drily.)  What  style  of  anti-bluffing 
device  has  your  company  adopted  ? 

A.  Of  course,  you  are  speaking  figuratively. 
Such  a  thing  isn't  possible.  We  have  a  pretty 
good  check  in  the  fine  class  of  men  we  have 
developed. 

21 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

Q.  Then,  it  is  a  sort  of  breeding  process? 

A.  Yes,  sir,  that's  it. 

Q.  To  go  a  little  further,  has  your  company 
any  patents  on  improving  human  nature  ? 

A.  No,  sir,  we  don't  claim  that. 

Q.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  your  officials  and 
employes  are  average  citizens  recruited  and 
developed  about  like  those  of  other  roads  ? 

A.  That  is  hardly  a  fair  way  to  put  it,  but 
I  suppose  they  are. 

Q.  Why  isn't  it  fair? 

A.  Because  it  leaves  out  of  account  the  ac- 
knowledged efficiency  that  comes  from  having 
men  well  treated  and  contented,  and  better  in- 
structed than  others.  Some  farms  make  more 
money  than  others  because  the  old  man  gets 
more  work  out  of  the  boys. 

Q.  Then  your  road  has  officials  who  can 
radiate  more  divine  afflatus  than  others  ? 

A.  I  didn't  say  that.  We  do  the  best  we 
know  how. 

Q.  What  is  organization? 

A.  Why  organization  is — let  me  see — why, 
organization  is  the  name  we  use  for  the  men 
— the  people,  the  forces  we  hire  to  run  our 
road.  It  is  hard  to  give  a  concise  definition.  I 
might  ask  you  what  law  is. 

22 


THE  GENERAL  MANAGER  ON  THE  STAND. 

Q.  That's  easy,  law  is  a  rule  of  conduct. 
Now,  tell  me,  please,  who  runs  the  road? 

A.  Why,  the  officers  run  the  road,  the  men 
do  the  work. 

Q.  Did  you  not  just  say  that  you  hire  men 
to  run  the  road  ? 

A.  I  didn't  mean  that. 

Q.  Then  in  your  business  you  are  not  very 
accurate.  You  say  one  thing  and  mean 
another. 

A.  No,  sir;  we  may  have  more  sense  than 
you  think  we  have.  We  spend  a  lifetime  at 
this  business  and  must  learn  something 
about  it. 

Q.  Will  you  please  tell  this  fair-minded 
commission  just  how  you  run  the  road,  just 
how  you  attempt  to  minister  to  the  needs  of 
the  intelligent  people  of  this  great  common- 
wealth? 

A.  Now,  sir,  it  is  a  pleasure  to  testify.  You 
are  getting  away  from  definitions  and  techni- 
calities and  down  to  practical  facts,  where  I 
feel  more  at  home.  I  will  be  glad  to  tell  you 
all  about  it.  In  the  first  place  a  railway  is  such 
a  big  affair  that  we  divide  it  into  departments. 

Q.  Excuse  me,  what  is  a  department? 

A.  A  department  is — well — I  can  make  it 
23 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

clearer  by  describing  what  it  does.  As  I  was 
saying,  we  divided  it  into  departments,  and  a 
department  is — well — a  department  is — why, 
something  so  different  from  everything  else 
that  we  put  it  off  by  itself  and  hold  the  head 
of  the  department  responsible  for  results.  We 
are  very  particular  not  to  interfere  with  the  de- 
tails of  the  departments. 

Q.  Pardon  me,  but  the  present  members  of 
this  exceptionally  able  commission,  inspired 
further  I  may  say  by  the  example  of  our  patri- 
otic governor,  are  accustomed  to  give  pro- 
found consideration  to  these  great  questions. 
(Modest  pricking  up  of  ears  of  commission, 
with  determined  composite  expression  bespeak- 
ing relentless  performance  of  a  dangerous 
duty.)  Please,  therefore,  tell  us  what  your 
department  does. 

A.  As  I  testified  on  the  direct  examination 
mine  is  the  operating  department;  as  general 
manager  I  have  charge  of  operation. 

Q.  What  does  that  include? 

A.  It  includes  transportation,  and  main- 
tenance and  new  construction.  It  handles  the 
business  the  other  fellow  gets. 

Q.  Who  is  the  other  fellow  ? 

A.  The  traffic  department. 
24 


THE  GENERAL  MANAGER  ON  THE  STAND. 

Q.  Of  another  company? 

A.  Why,  no,  of  our  own.  It  is  just  another 
department.  It  deals  with  the  public,  it  gets 
the  business,  it  makes  the  rates;  excuse  me — 
it  recommends  rates  to  honorable  bodies  like 
this  commission. 

Q.  Then  you  in  the  operating  department 
don't  deal  with  the  public  ? 

A.  Yes,  sir,  we  do,  more  and  more  every 
year. 

Q.  Is  the  traveling  freight  agent  in  your 
department  ? 

A.  No,  sir,  he  is  in  the  traffic  department. 

Q.  Then  you  have  no  control  over  him  ? 

A.  No,  sir,  no  direct  control,  but  as  I  said 
before,  we  all  work  very  closely  together  on 
our  road. 

Q.  It  is  claimed  that  there  has  been  dis- 
crimination in  car  distribution  in  this  state,  be- 
cause a  traveling  freight  agent  promised  more 
cars  to  some  shippers  than  the  latter  were  en- 
titled to  according  to  the  supply  available. 
How  about  that? 

A.  I  am  unable  to  say. 

Q.  Getting  back  to  your  narrative,  please 
resume  the  interesting  description  of  your  de- 
partment. 

25 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

A.  As  I  was  saying,  we  have  several  depart- 
ments, each  under  a  superintendent  or  other 
officer.  We  have  a  general  superintendent,  a 
chief  engineer,  a  superintendent  of  motive 
power,  a  superintendent  of  transportation,  a 
superintendent  of  telegraph,  a  signal  engineer, 
a  superintendent  of  dining  cars,  and  a  general 
storekeeper,  all  of  whom  we  call  general  of- 
ficers in  charge  of  departments. 

Q.  I  thought  you  said  you  are  the  head  of 
the  operating  department. 

A.  Yes,  sir;  that's  right. 

Q.  I  don't  quite  understand.  You  say  that 
there  are  eight  departments  in  your  depart- 
ment? 

A.  Yes,  sir;  that  is  what  we  call  them.  It 
always  has  been  so. 

Q.  Then  when  is  a  department  a  depart- 
ment? 

A.  You  see  these  are  really  not  departments ; 
they  are  just  parts  of  the  operating  department 
which  is  really  a  department. 

Q.  Then,  why  not  have  definite  designa- 
tions ? 

A.  I  don't  know.    We  have  never  thought 
it  necessary.    We  are  getting  good  results  and 
giving  good  service  to  the  public. 
26 


THE  GENERAL  MANAGER  ON  THE  STAND. 

Q.  What  are  results  ? 

A.  I  am  not  sure ;  the  longer  I  live  the  less 
certain  I  am  about  these  things. 

Q.  I  am  glad  to  hear  that.  This  impartial 
commission  has  been  constituted  because  some 
railway  officers  tried  to  dictate  what  was  best 
for  this  enlightened  commonwealth.  Now,  tell 
us,  please,  what  you  think  of  the  plan  the 
United  States  government  has  of  making  the 
"bureau"  the  next  unit  of  organization  below 
the  "department"? 

A.  I  have  never  given  government  organiza- 
tion much  attention.  The  part  of  the  govern- 
ment that  concerns  me  most  is  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission,  which  seems  made  up 
mainly  of  inspectors. 

Q.  Have  you  ever  studied  the  organization 
of  the  federal  courts,  and  of  the  army  and  the 
navy? 

A.  I  can  hardly  say  that  I  have  studied  their 
organization,  but  I  have  observed  them  some. 

Q.  Then  you  and  your  road  do  not  give 
much  attention  to  organization? 

A.  Perhaps  not  to  theories.  We  are  very 
practical.  I  never  could  see  where  a  railway 
is  like  the  government.  They  are  very  dif- 
ferent. 

27 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

Q.  Is  not  human  nature  the  same  in  its 
basic  characteristics,  whether  employed  by  a 
railway  or  the  government? 

A.  I  suppose  that  it  is,  but  many  things 
about  a  corporation  are  different. 

Q.  Is  not  the  government  the  largest  of  em- 
ploying corporations  with  its  citizens  as  the 
stockholders  ? 

A.  Perhaps  so.  I  would  rather  go  on  and 
tell  you  something  practical  about  our  work. 

Q.  Pray  do  so. 

A.  You  see,  I  am  the  responsible  head,  so 
that  I  insist  upon  being  consulted  about  all  im- 
portant matters,  and  leave  only  routine  affairs 
to  be  acted  on  by  my  subordinates. 

Q.  What  are  important  matters,  and  what 
are  routine  affairs? 

A.  Why,  the  important  things  are  those  that 
I  handle  personally,  and  routine,  well,  routine 
is  what  comes  along  every  day  and  is  so  well 
understood  that  it  does  not  require  my  per- 
sonal attention. 

Q.  Do  you  think  any  three  men  could  agree 
upon  what  should  be  considered  routine  busi- 
ness? 

A.  I  don't  know.  I  had  never  thought  of  it 
that  way.  Many  things  have  to  be  left  to  dis- 


THE  GENERAL  MANAGER  ON  THE  STAND. 

cretion.     That  is  where  judgment  comes  in. 

Q.  Whose  judgment? 

A.  The  judgment  of  the  man  handling  the 
matter ;  in  this  case,  my  own. 

Q.  You  have  been  here  all  day.  Who  is 
handling  matters  in  your  absence  ? 

A.  My  chief  clerk. 

Q.  You  did  not  mention  him  before.  What 
officer  is  he? 

A.  He  is  not  usually  counted  as  an  officer, 
but  is  considered  the  personal  representative  of 
an  officer. 

Q.  Does  he  sign  your  name  ? 

A.  Yes,  sir;  but  puts  his  initials  under  my 
name. 

Q.  Suppose  he  forgets  to  put  his  initials. 
Could  you  swear  to  the  signature  in  court? 

A.  I  don't  know.  You  understand  that  is 
only  for  routine  business. 

Q.  Does  he  sign  your  name  to  your  personal 
bank  check? 

A.  No,  sir ;  he  does  not. 

Q.  Then  the  company's  business  with  the 
citizens  of  this  state  receives  less  careful  at- 
tention than  your  own  personal  affairs? 

A.  No,  sir;  the  company's  business  comes 
first  with  me.    I  am  a  poor  man  today. 
29 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

Q.  When  you  are  away  your  chief  clerk  has 
to  sign  instructions  to  the  general  officers  in 
your  department? 

A.  Only  routine  matters. 

Q.  Does  he  receive  a  higher  salary  than 
they? 

A.  No,  sir ;  a  lower. 

Q.  What  determines  relative  salaries? 

A.  Qualifications  and  experience. 

Q.  Then  you  have  the  less  qualified  and  the 
less  experienced  man  instructing  higher  of- 
ficers. 

A.  It  might  seem  so,  but  in  our  case  we  are 
very  fortunate.  My  chief  clerk  is  an  unusual 
man,  and  is  very  considerate  and  diplomatic. 
He  knows  that  I  do  not  stand  for  inconsiderate 
requirements  of  others. 

Q.  From  whom  do  you  receive  your  instruc- 
tions ? 

A.  From  our  president. 

Q.  Always  personally  ? 

A.  Not  always ;  his  chief  clerk  is  authorized 
to  represent  him. 

Q.  Is  his  chief  clerk  as  considerate  for  you 
as  your  chief  clerk  is  for  your  subordinate  of- 
ficers ? 

A.  That  is  a  very  delicate  question.  I  would 
30 


THE  GENERAL  MANAGER  ON  THE  STAND. 

rather  not  answer  unless  the  commission  in- 
sists. 

(Hearing  adjourned  for  day.  General  coun- 
sel sends  cipher  telegram  to  president  stating 
indelicacy  of  state  officials  is  almost  unbear- 
able ;  that  bankers  and  business  men  should  pe- 
tition governor  to  stop  destroying  credit  of 
railways. ) 

All  of  which,  my  dear  boy,  is  not  as  bad  as 
it  sounds,  but,  through  difficulty  of  explana- 
tion, points  the  way  to  desirable  improvements 
in  railway  administration. 

Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 


LETTER  IV. 

FURTHER   GRUELLING  OF  THE  GENERAL 
MANAGER. 

Tucson,  Arizona,  April  29,  1911. 

My  Dear  Boy: — After  the  commission 
kicked  for  rest,  the  general  manager  tied  up 
in  his  caboose.  Nobody  was  allowed  to  run 
around  him  and  he  was  marked  up  first  out  the 
following  morning.  The  commission  not  hav- 
ing any  agreement  about  initial  overtime,  the 
attorney  acting  as  yardmaster  handed  him  a 
switch  list  and  told  him  to  dig  out  these  loads : 

Question:  How  many  letters  a  day  do  you 
write  ? 

Answer :  I  don't  know,  a  great  many. 

Q.  How  many  a  day  go  out  of  your  office  ? 

A.  I  can't  state  exactly,  probably  a  hundred 
or  more. 

Q.  Then  you  do  not  see  them  all  ? 

A.  No,  that  would  be  impossible  in  such  a 
large  office. 

Q.  Does  the  chief  clerk  see  them  all  ? 

A.  I  think  he  does. 

32 


GRUELLING  OF  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER. 

Q.  You  are  not  sure  then  ? 

A.  No,  not  entirely.  I  have  had  no  com- 
plaints about  that. 

Q.  Is  the  only  way  you  know  about  how 
things  are  going  to  have  a  complaint  come  in? 

A.  Not  exactly.  I  try  to  keep  ahead  of  the 
game. 

Q.  Are  the  offices  of  your  subordinates  run 
in  this  same  haphazard  manner? 

A.  I  do  not  admit  that  it  is  haphazard.  The 
general  method  is  the  same. 

Q.  Who  is  in  charge  of  the  distribution  of 
cars? 

A.  My  superintendent  of  transportation. 

Q.  To  whom  are  his  instructions  given? 

A.  To  the  division  superintendents. 

Q.  Does  he  give  his  instructions  personally  ? 

A.  The  important  instructions  he  gives  per- 
sonally. Of  course,  he  cannot  do  it  all  alone. 
You  understand  that  his  department  deals  with 
individual  cars  and  has  an  enormous  amount 
of  detail. 

Q.  How  many  men  are  authorized  to  sign 
his  name  and  initials  ? 

A.  I  don't  know. 

Q.  Then  you  do  not  regard  this  as  an  im- 
portant matter? 

33 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

A.  Not  as  important  as  some  others.  That 
is  a  matter  for  which  the  superintendent  of 
transportation  is  responsible.  I  look  to  him. 

Q.  Do  you  think  every  man  charged  with 
duties  should  be  allowed  to  select  his  own  type 
of  organization  and  decide  as  to  his  own 
methods  ? 

A.  As  far  as  possible,  yes. 

Q.  Then  why  not  let  each  conductor  make 
his  own  train  rules,  and  each  station  agent 
keep  his  own  kind  of  accounts? 

A.  Because  confusion  would  result. 

Q.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  on  most  American 
railroads  six  or  eight  clerks  are  signing  the 
name  or  initials  of  the  superintendent  of  trans- 
portation ? 

A.  I  don't  know ;  very  likely. 

Q.  Does  not  a  similar  condition  exist  in  a 
smaller  degree  in  most  railway  offices. 

A.  Yes,  sir,  that  is  the  system. 

Q.  Then  who  are  running  the  offices,  the  of- 
ficials or  the  clerks? 

A.  I  always  supposed  the  officials.  You  see 
we  could  not  afford  so  many  officials. 

Q.  Has  it  ever  occurred  to  you  that  by  hav- 
ing more  officials  you  might  get  along  with 
fewer  clerks  ? 

34 


GRUELLING  OF  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER. 

A.  No,  sir. 

Q.  Who  sign  for  the  train  orders  on  your 
road? 

A.  Our  conductors. 

Q.  Have  not  conductors  and  operators  been 
discharged  for  signing  each  other's  names? 

A.  Yes,  sir.  We  must  maintain  discipline. 
If  the  train  orders  are  not  respected,  accidents 
will  result. 

Q.  Then  you  have  one  policy  for  one  class 
of  employes,  and  allow  your  officials  and  clerks 
to  be  a  law  unto  themselves  ? 

A.  Not  exactly.  As  I  said  before  we  can- 
not afford  so  many  officials. 

Q.  Whose  initials  are  signed  to  your  train 
orders  ? 

A.  The  superintendent's. 

Q.  Why? 

A.  Because  it  has  always  been  that  way  on 
our  road.  It  makes  the  order  stronger. 

Q.  If  initials  make  an  order  stronger,  why 
not  sign  yours,  or  the  president's,  or  God  Al- 
mighty's ? 

A.  That  would  be  ridiculous. 

Q.  Then  it  is  not  ridiculous  to  sign  the  su- 
perintendent's initials  when  he  is  at  home  in 
bed? 

35 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

A.  No,  that  is  different.  We  wish  to  em- 
phasize the  fact  that  the  superintendent  is  in 
charge  of  the  division. 

Q.  Then  why  not  put  the  superintendent's 
photograph  on  all  the  orders?  Would  that 
strengthen  him  with  the  men  ? 

A.  No,  of  course  not. 

Q.  You  have  been  talking  about  the  super- 
intendent ;  is  he  the  same  as  the  superintendent 
of  motive  power? 

A.  No,  you  do  not  quite  understand.  The 
superintendent  has  charge  of  a  division  and 
the  superintendent  of  motive  power,  like  the 
superintendent  of  transportation,  has  charge 
of  a  department. 

Q.  Then  the  word  superintendent  doesn't 
always  mean  the  same  thing? 

A.  No,  sir,  but  no  confusion  results.  You 
see,  the  heads  of  departments  are  general  offi- 
cers, while  the  superintendent  is  a  division 
officer. 

Q.  Which  superintendent? 

A.  The  division  superintendent. 

Q.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  on  some  roads  there 
is  a  question  as  to  which  has  authority  in  cer- 
tain matters,   the  division  superintendent   or 
the  superintendent  of  motive  power? 
36 


GRUELLING  OF  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER. 

A.  I  believe  so,  but  we  do  not  have  any 
such  trouble. 

Q.  (Producing  copies  of  letters  furnished 
by  discharged  office  employe.)  Does  not  this 
correspondence  indicate  a  heated  difference  of 
opinion  between  your  superintendent  of  motive 
power  and  a  division  superintendent  which  had 
to  be  settled  by  you? 

A.  Oh,  yes;  I  recall,  I  had  forgotten  that. 
That  will  not  happen  again. 

Q.  What  guaranty  have  you  against  similar 
friction  ? 

A.  I  have. that  all  straightened  out.  Every- 
body is  lined  up  and  understands  that  I  insist 
upon  harmony  with  a  big  H. 

Q.  To  prevent  confusion  and,  therefore,  to 
save  money  why  not  make  titles  sufficiently 
distinctive  in  rank  to  prevent  conflict  of  au- 
thority ? 

A.  We  have  not  thought  it  necessary.  I  do 
not  go  as  much  on  titles  as  some  people.  The 
old-fashioned  way  is  good  enough  for  me.  A 
rose  by  any  other  name  would  smell  as  sweet. 

Q.  How,  then,  if  you  ordered  roses  for  a 
funeral,  would  you  guard  against  the  corpse 
being  handed  lemons  ? 

A.  By  sending  a  note  or  a  card. 
37 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

Q.  Signed  by  your  chief  clerk? 

A.  No,  sir. 

Q.  Do  you  think  it  is  honest  to  have  your 
chief  clerk  signing  your  name  while  you  are 
away  at  this  hearing? 

A.  There  is  no  intent  to  deceive. 

Q.  Do  you  not  unconsciously  try  to  convey 
the  idea  that  you  are  in  one  place  when  you 
are  really  in  another,  or  that  you  are  acting 
when  it  is  really  an  entirely  different  man  who 
is  taking  action? 

A.  Perhaps  so.  I  had  never  looked  at  it  in 
that  way.  It  is  a  generally  recognized  custom. 

Q.  You  do  not  seem  to  regard  the  office 
part  as  very  important,  as  you  permit  a  lot 
of  clerks  to  take  final  action  all  day  long. 

A.  The  office  is  not  as  important  as  the  road. 
I  try  to  give  the  most  attention  to  the  impor- 
tant matters  on  the  road. 

Q.  You  feel  that  by  doing  so  the  office  will 
in  a  large  measure  take  care  of  itself? 

A.  That  is  it  exactly. 

Q.  Do  you  not  think  that  most  railway  ad- 
ministrative offices  have  grown  too  large  to 
take  care  of  themselves? 

A.  You  see,  we  keep  in  close  touch  with 
our  offices  on  a  railroad,  because  when  away 
38 


GRUELLING  OF  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER. 

we  have  a  telegraph  or  telephone  wire  at  our 
command. 

Q.  What  good  does  a  wire  do  you  if  you 
are  tied  up  in  a  hearing  or  a  conference  for 
two  or  three  hours  at  a  time  ? 

A.  I  fear  that  I  have  not  made  clear  to  you 
just  how  valuable  a  man  I  have  trained  into  a 
chief  clerk. 

Q.  I  fear  that  you  have  not.  You  seem  to 
believe  the  old  system  is  all  right.  Do  you 
think  the  last  word  has  been  said  or  that  your 
road  has  hit  upon  the  best  system? 

A.  The  last  word  on  these  important  sub- 
jects will  never  be  said,  but  we  have  been  get- 
ting along  very  well. 

*       *       *       * 

I  shall  not  continue  further  in  this  letter  the 
catechismal  method,  lest  you  accuse  me  of  for- 
getting that  you  long  ago  graduated  from  the 
kindergarten.  So  you  did ;  but  when  in  doubt 
get  back  to  early  methods.  After  reading  re- 
cently an  article  on  scientific  management,  I 
had  to  recall  my  catechism  to  feel  certain  that 
handling  pig  iron  is  not  the  chief  end  of  man. 
We  all,  you  and  I  included,  sometimes  show  up 
smaller  than  we  really  are,  because  we  seem  to 
think  only  in  the  narrow  terms  of  the  things 
39 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

to  which  we  are  closest.  It  once  fell  to  the 
lot  of  a  young  official  to  escort  over  his  road 
some  of  its  directors,  bankers  from  New  York. 
Being  an  enthusiast  for  his  section  of  country, 
being  an  operating  man  with  an  instinct  for 
developing  traffic,  he  talked  of  progress,  of 
the  economic  and  social  welfare  of  the  people. 
When  he  spoke  of  sugar  planting,  or  of  cotton 
growing,  of  blooded  stock  and  dairy  yield,  the 
bankers  asked,  "How  much  does  it  cost  to  raise 
an  acre?"  or  "What  percentage  of  profit  do 
they  make  ?"  He  returned  from  the  trip  feeling 
that  money  must  be  their  god,  that  his  directors 
could  think  only  in  terms  of  dollars  and  cents. 
It  dampened  his  ardor  for  a  time.  Then  he 
was  so  fortunate  as  to  ride  for  a  few  days 
with  some  of  the  really  big  modern  bankers. 
He  found  himself  listening  with  open  mouth 
to  their  expression  of  practical  sociological 
truths.  He  marveled  at  their  recognition  of 
the  human  element,  and  he  understood  better 
why  the  board  sometimes  turned  down  his  rec- 
ommendations. His  only  lament  was  that  he 
could  not  see  more  of  them.  There,  my  boy, 
is  the  great  misfortune,  there  is  a  problem  to  be 
solved.  There  is  too  much  Boston,  New  York, 
Philadelphia  and  Chicago.  The  directors  seem 
40 


GRUELLING  OF  THE  GENERAL  MANAGER. 

too  far  away.  It  is  a  step  forward  that  the 
overlords  of  transportation  are  bankers  who 
have  won  their  way  rather  than  hereditary  de- 
scendants of  once  reigning  families.  Some 
method  must  be  evolved  to  make  for  more 
elastic  control.  Annual  inspection  trips  will 
not  overcome  that  rigidity  in  administration  at 
which  the  public  chafes  and  from  which  it 
seeks  relief  in  drastic  laws.  An  interesting  and 
hopeful  phase  of  present  development  is  the 
election  to  directorates  of  trained  railway  ex- 
ecutives like  L.  F.  Loree  and  H.  I.  Miller.  The 
professionally  equipped  railway  director  is  a 
desirable  evolution.  Supply  always  follows  de- 
mand, and  the  broad  solution  will  be  a  compo- 
site made  up  of  many  elements  of  progress 
which  perhaps  have  not  yet  unfolded  them- 
selves to  any  of  us. 

It  is  a  great  game,  this  transportation  busi- 
ness. The  more  you  study  it,  however,  the 
more  you  discover  that  it  is  amenable  to  the 
same  underlying  principles  on  which  rest  the 
great  and  small  activities  of  the  human  race. 
Like  all  professions,  it  has  its  distinct  tech- 
nique. Like  all  professions,  it  suffers  from  the 
inborn  tendency  of  human  nature  to  segregate 
itself  behind  an  exaggerated  class  conscious- 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

ness.  "We  are  a  little  different,"  or  "You  do 
not  quite  understand  our  peculiar  local  condi- 
tions," are  the  arguments  with  which  ultra- 
conservatism  has  opposed  progress  in  all  ages, 
are  the  obstacles  which  make  so  interesting  all 
real  contests  for  principle. 

I  make  no  apologies  for  taking  you  in  this 
letter  from  the  witness  stand  of  the  west  to 
the  financial  chancelleries  of  the  east.  When 
both  the  banker  director  and  the  general  man- 
ager learn  that  signatures  on  letters  and  tram 
orders  must  be  as  sacred  as  when  signed  to 
bank  checks,  we  shall  be  winning  back  a  little 
of  that  old-time  sense  of  personal  responsibility 
which  is  so  needed  for  improving  composite 
efficiency  today.  What  better  epitaph  could 
any  man  desire  than  this,  "He  helped  to  teach 
corporations  to  remember  that  lasting  compos- 
ite strength  comes  only  from  intelligent  recog- 
nition of  individual  manhood?" 

Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 


LETTER  V. 

LIMITATIONS  OF  THE  CHIEF  CLERK  SYSTEM. 

Tucson,  Arizona,  May  6,  1911. 

My  Dear  Boy : — I  have  had  a  good  deal  to 
say  to  you  at  one  time  and  another  about  chief 
clerks  and  the  chief  clerk  system.  From  actual 
experience  as  a  chief  clerk  I  know  that  it  is  a 
trying  position.  It  is  because  the  railway  chief 
clerks  of  the  country  are  as  a  class  such  a  splen- 
did body  of  men  that  I  am  trying  to  do  what 
I  can  to  help  them.  Too  many  times  a  chief 
clerk  misses  promotion  because  he  is  such  a 
valuable  man  that  he  has  to  stand  still  to  break 
in  all  the  new  bosses  who  come  along  and  leave 
him  in  the  side  track. 

The  chief  clerk  system  as  we  know  it  today 
cannot  long  survive  because  it  is  too  feudal  in 
conception  to  reflect  the  spirit  of  a  progressive 
age.  We  need  a  chief  clerk  to  be  a  head  clerk, 
a  senior  clerk,  a  foreman  of  the  office  forces, 
as  it  were.  Much  of  the  time  on  American 
railroads  the  chief  clerk  is  in  effect  an  acting 
official,  acting  trainmaster,  acting  superinten- 
43 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

dent,  acting  general  manager,  acting  vice- 
president,  and  even  acting  president.  As  such 
he  signs  the  name  of  his  boss,  the  theory  being 
that  the  latter,  like  a  feudal  baron  or  a  king, 
is  omnipresent  within  his  own  dominions.  Not 
only  does  this  outgrown  conception  violate  the 
fundamental  laws  of  matter;  it  often  borders 
upon  a  breach  of  honor,  integrity  and  good 
faith.  Legal  fictions  are  fast  giving  place  to 
the  law  of  common  sense.  Railway  officials 
should  not  risk  arraignment  before  the  bar  of 
public  opinion  for  such  indefensible  practices. 
When  the  chief  clerk  does  business  in  the 
name  of  some  one  else  the  effect  is  dwarfing 
to  all  concerned.  We  do  not  get  the  effect  of 
either  one  or  two  men,  but  that  of  a  fraction 
of  both.  Again,  the  chief  clerk  is  handling 
important  correspondence  with  officials  below 
of  higher  rank  than  himself,  of  greater  com- 
pensation, and  presumably  of  wider  experience. 
Human  nature  is  such  that  sooner  or  later  the 
chief  clerk,  a  junior,  is  telling  an  official,  a 
senior,  where  to  head  in.  Among  the  hundreds 
of  railroad  officials  with  whom  it  is  my  proud 
privilege  to  claim  acquaintance,  I  have  found 
nearly  every  one  flattering  himself,  "My  chief 
clerk  never  makes  such  breaks."  To  avoid 
44 


LIMITATIONS  OF  CHIEF  CLERK  SYSTEM. 

awkward  and  embarrassing  silences,  I  am 
learning  to  discontinue  the  acid  test,  "How 
about  your  boss's  chief  clerk?"  So  widespread 
a  belief  indicates  a  generic  trait  of  human  na- 
ture rather  than  a  sporadic  condition.  Organ- 
ization as  a  science  seeks  by  proper  checks  and 
balances  to  minimize  such  amiable  failings  of 
human  nature.  Organized  society  preserves 
the  effectiveness  and  dignity  of  its  courts  by 
allowing  only  a  duly  qualified  judge  to  admin- 
ister justice.  The  old  clerk  of  the  court  may 
really  know  more  law  than  the  young  judge, 
but  only  the  latter  can  sit  on  the  bench  and  de- 
cide causes.  The  lay  reader  must  be  duly  or- 
dained before  exercising  the  full  functions  of 
a  minister.  The  man  who  uses  another's  auto- 
graph signature  in  the  banking  business  be- 
comes a  malefactor.  Are  we  so  different  in 
the  large  corporations  that  we  can  with  im- 
punity ignore  such  safeguards? 

The  chief  clerk  system  had  its  origin  when 
railways  were  small  and  officials  were  few.  On 
a  division,  for  example,  the  superintendent  was 
perhaps  the  only  official  and  by  common  ac- 
ceptance his  clerk  was  really  the  next  in  rank. 
When  a  small  tradesman  or  a  small  farmer 
goes  away  for  a  day  his  wife  and  boy  may  do 
45 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

the  work  without  any  one  knowing  the  dif- 
ference. In  a  larger  enterprise  there  has  to 
be  an  understudy  in  charge  when  the  head  is 
away. 

You  may  have  noticed  that  I  use  the  word 
"rank"  considerably.  Rank  is  a  practical  ne- 
cessity for  the  proper  enforcement  of  au- 
thority. Rank  makes  its  appearance  as  soon 
as  society  organizes  for  its  own  protection. 
Rank  may  be  local,  limited,  changing  and  tem- 
porary as  contra-distinguished  from  general, 
extensive,  hereditary,  or  permanent,  but  it  is 
rank  just  the  same.  The  purest  democracies 
clothe  their  chosen  leaders  with  temporary 
rank.  Before  misconstruing  the  poetic  aphor- 
ism of  Robert  Burns,  "rank  is  but  the  guinea's 
stamp,"  remember  that  the  guinea  is  only 
fluctuating  bullion  until  the  stamp  of  authority 
of  government  can  be  invoked. 

Let  me  now  enunciate  a  principle,  which  is 
this:  "In  modern  organization  the  chief  clerk 
as  we  now  know  him  has  no  place.  When  the 
stage  is  reached  that  such  a  chief  clerk  seems 
to  be  needed,  there  should  be  another  assistant 
this  or  that."  Mind  you,  I  do  not  say  assistant 
to,  because  that  little  word  "to"  may  give  a 
sent-for-and-couldn't-come  appearance,  Nearly 
46 


LIMITATIONS  OF  CHIEF  CLERK  SYSTEM. 

every  week  you  notice  the  announcement  of 
the  appointment  of  an  old  chief  clerk  to  the 
position  of  assistant  to  somebody.  This  is  en- 
couraging, since  it  permits  him  to  do  business 
in  his  own  name.  It  also  shows  that  railway 
officials  are  waking  up  to  the  distinct  limita- 
tions of  the  chief  clerk  system.  The  discourag- 
ing feature  is  the  failure  to  profit  by  centuries 
of  experience  of  such  well-handled  activities  as 
the  Navy  and  the  merchant  marine.  At  sea  the 
executive  officer  ranks  next  below  the  captain 
and  is  in  effect,  though  not  in  name,  the  lat- 
ter's  chief  of  staff.  The  captain's  clerk  or  the 
purser  cannot  hope  to  become  executive  officer 
and  then  captain  without  getting  outside  and 
working  up  through  the  deck.  When  railway 
executives  and  directors  become  better  students 
of  organization,  the  science  of  human  nature, 
their  stockholders  will  pay  for  fewer  unneces- 
sary experiments.  One  railway  profits  by  the 
discoveries  and  mistakes  of  another,  as  to 
bridges  and  equipment,  but  rarely  as  to  organ- 
ization and  methods. 

The  United   States  Army,   copied   largely 

from  the  English,  has  the  assistant  to  system, 

calling  such  officer  the  adjutant.    The  rank  of 

the  adjutant  has  been  raised  to  captain,  or 

47 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

rather  the  grade  from  which  the  colonel  can 
select  his  adjutant  has  been  elevated  to  that  of 
captain.  The  adjutant  has  thus  gained,  and 
many  military  men  hope  that  he  will  eventually 
be  the  lieutenant-colonel,  and  as  in  the  Navy, 
be  the  executive  officer,  and,  in  effect,  chief  of 
staff  for  the  colonel.  Since  no  officer  of  the 
Army  or  Navy  permits  another  to  sign  his 
name  the  adjutant  uses  his  own  autograph  sig- 
nature, but  preceded  by  the  phrase,  "By  order 
of  Colonel  Blank";  objectionable  because  it  is 
sometimes  a  legal  fiction.  The  adjutant  system 
in  the  army  works  better  than  the  assistant  to 
system  on  the  railroads,  because  the  adjutant 
is  relatively  better  trained  for  his  position. 
Not  only  does  the  adjutant  know  office  work, 
but  he  has  learned  practically  to  perform  every 
duty  required  of  non-commissioned  officers  and 
private  soldiers.  Very  few  assistants  to  could 
run  a  train,  switch  cars,  handle  a  locomotive, 
or  pick  up  a  wreck.  This  is  why  soldiers  and 
sailors  have  more  faith  in  the  ability  of  their 
officers  than  railway  employes  have  in  that  of 
their  officials.  He  who  would  be  called  Thor 
must  first  wield  Thor's  battle  axe.  We  should 
office  from  the  railroad  rather  than  railroad 
from  the  office. 

48 


LIMITATIONS  OF  CHIEF  CLERK  SYSTEM. 

Since  these  things  are  so,  as  runs  the  old 
Latin  phrase,  I  would  recruit  my  office  assist- 
ant from  the  road,  from  the  head  of  a  so-called 
department,  from  an  official  who  has  gained  a 
face-to- face  experience  in  handling  men.  The 
old  chief  clerk  is  the  first  man  I  would  con- 
sider for  appointment  as  one  of  my  junior 
assistants.  I  would  so  assign  him  that  he  would 
get  outside  experience.  Sunburn  and  redness 
of  blood  sometimes  go  together.  For  the  pink 
tea  contact  of  the  telephone,  for  the  absent 
treatment  of  the  typewriter,  I  would  ask  him 
for  a  while  to  substitute  the  strong  coffee  of 
the  caboose  and  the  surprise  test  of  the  through 
freight.  Office  railroading  has  its  origin  in 
the  mistaken  theory  of  overspecialization,  that 
office  work  is  a  highly-segregated  specialty  be- 
yond the  ken  of  the  average  man.  The  world 
advances,  and  as  education  becomes  more  gen- 
eral, as  tenure  is  made  more  permanent,  and 
employment  more  attractive,  we  can  impose 
increased  requirements.  Suppose  that  it  all 
could  be  so  worked  out  that  a  generation  hence 
no  man  would  expect  to  be  a  railroad  clerk 
until  he  had  served  some  such  outside  appren- 
ticeship as  trackman,  brakeman,  switchman,  or 
fireman,  etc.  This  would  mean  that  in  an  or- 
49 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

ganization  like  the  post  office  department  every 
clerk  in  the  department  in  Washington  would 
have  been  graduated  from  some  such  outside 
position  as  letter  carrier,  railway  mail  clerk, 
country  postmaster,  rural  free  delivery  carrier, 
etc.  Every  clerk  in  the  war  department  would 
be  a  soldier  and  every  clerk  in  the  navy  de- 
partment a  sailor.  Then  the  papers  that  the 
clerk  handled  would  have  a  living  meaning  for 
him.  His  action  would  be  more  intelligent. 
Pardon  me  a  moment  while  I  shake  hands  with 
the  highly-conventional  gentleman  who  is  ap- 
proaching— Mr.  Cant  B.  Dunn.  No  introduc- 
tion is  necessary.  We  have  met  all  over  the 
United  States,  in  Canada  and  in  Mexico.  We 
usually  differ,  but  never  quarrel,  because  each 
is  so  necessary  to  the  other. 

Sure,  my  boy,  all  these  things  can't  be  done 
right  away  quick,  or  before  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  again  asks  for  in- 
creased authority  and  larger  appropriations.  I 
do  not  expect  to  live  to  see  the  consummation, 
but  hope  that  you  may.  I  do  expect  to  survive 
long  enough  to  see  a  good  start  made  along 
such  rational  lines  of  elasticity.  Because  we 
cannot  accomplish  it  all  at  once  is  no  reason 
for  not  making  an  intelligent  beginning.  If  a 
50 


LIMITATIONS  OF  CHIEF  CLERK  SYSTEM. 

compromise  with  principle  is  ever  advanced  its 
advocates  should  be  prepared  to  pay  the  ulti- 
mate cost.  Those  questions  on  which  the 
Federal  Constitution  compromised  required  the 
expensive  settlement  of  civil  war.  Otherwise 
the  Constitution  has  been  elastic  enough  to 
cover  nearly  fifty  states  as  fully  as  the  original 
thirteen.  It  is  even  strong  enough  to  with- 
stand the  latest  political  fallacy,  the  recall  of 
the  judiciary,  as  solemnly  proposed  out  here  in 
fascinating  Arizona. 

Remember  always,  my  boy,  that  although 
the  good  old  days  have  completed  their  runs, 
there  are  better  days  arriving  and  still  on  the 
road;  that  from  beyond  the  terminal  at  the 
vanishing  point  of  the  perspective  the  best 
days  are  coming  special  because  no  railway 
time-table  is  big  enough  to  give  them  running 
rights. 

Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 


LETTER  VI. 

PREVENTING  INSTEAD  OF  PAYING  CLAIMS. 

Phoenix,  Arizona,  May  13,  1911. 

My  Dear  Boy : — You  ask  me  to  give  you  my 
views  on  the  handling  and  settling  of  freight 
claims. 

I  restrain  my  impatience  and  consequent  de- 
sire to  jump  on  you  hafd.  Allow  me,  there- 
fore, with  expressions  of  distinguished  con- 
sideration, to  invite  your  esteemed  attention  to 
the  fact  that  your  valued  request  contains  no 
mention  of  an  intelligent  desire  for  possible  en- 
lightenment on  the  most  important  feature  of 
the  problem,  namely,  the  prevention  of  claims, 
the  eradication  of  causes. 

A  railroad  is  a  complex  proposition.  Sel- 
dom can  we  discuss  one  of  its  problems  inde- 
pendently. So  ramified  are  its  activities  that 
the  penumbra  of  one  shadow  coincides  with  the 
outline  of  the  next.  Studied  from  the  broad- 
est view  of  railway  administration,  freight 
claims  are  found  too  often  doing  duty  as  a 
shadow  which  hides  the  real  substance,  poor 
52 


PREVENTING  vs.  PAYING  CLAIMS. 

operation.  It  was  formerly  the  almost  uni- 
versal practice  on  American  railways  for 
freight  claims  to  be  handled  and  settled  by 
the  freight  traffic  department.  It  was  felt  that 
the  man  who  secured  the  business,  who  dealt 
with  the  shippers,  was  the  man  to  placate  the 
claiming  public.  No,  this  did  not  always  lead 
to  rebating.  It  placed  before  the  man  hungry 
for  gross  revenue  a  temptation  which  he  often 
resisted.  Since  the  'passage  of  the  Hepburn 
act  and  the  consequent  inspection  of  claim  dis- 
bursements by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission, the  general  trend  of  railroad  practice 
has  been  to  place  the  so-called  freight  claim  de- 
partment under  the  accounting  department. 
Railroads  are  waking  up  to  the  fact  that  the 
new  order  of  things  means  more  than  an  ac- 
counting proposition;  that  in  government  reg- 
ulation and  supervision  the  whole  matter  of 
railway  administration  is  involved.  What  we 
technically  term  "operation"  is  the  largest  of 
the  component  elements  of  administration. 

The  tendency  of  overspecialization  has  been 
to  leave  to  the  accounting  or  the  legal  depart- 
ment the  matter  of  relations  with  the  various 
branches  of  government,  both  state  and 
federal.  Since  a  part  can  never  equal  the 
S3 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

whole  the  results  have  been  disappointing. 
Railroads  are  learning  by  costly  experience 
that  traffic  men  and  operating  men  must  have 
an  active  part  in  these  vital  relations.  Govern- 
ment in  the  long  run  reflects  the  spirit  of  its 
people.  The  American  people  as  a  nation  are 
positive  and  constructive.  The  training  of 
railway  lawyers  and  railway  accountants  is 
often  negative  and  resisting.  The  general 
counsel  and  the  general  auditor  are  inclined 
to  tell  us  what  we  can  not  do.  The  traffic  man- 
ager and  the  general  maanger,  on  the  other 
hand,  tell  us  what  we  can  do.  Out  of  it  all 
should  come  a  well-balanced  administrative 
machine.  We  need  the  whole  machine,  not  a 
specialized  part,  the  positive  as  well  as  the 
negative  elements,  when  we  move  alongside 
the  reciprocating  engine  of  government. 

Again,  putting  a  man  in  the  accounting  de- 
partment does  not  make  him  any  more  honest 
than  the  rest  of  us.  There  is  more  logic  in 
taking  freight  claims  away  from  the  traffic  de- 
partment than  there  is  in  placing  them  under 
the  accounting  department.  The  traffic  man, 
the  accounting  man,  or  the  legal  man  can  settle 
or  refuse  a  claim.  None  of  these  can  eradicate 
its  cause.  Only  the  operating  man  can  do  this. 
54 


PREVENTING  vs.  PAYING  CLAIMS. 

Many  roads  cling  to  the  belief  that  their  won- 
derful interior  combustion  and  hot  air  harmony 
give  the  operating  department  sufficient  in- 
formation to  serve  the  practical  purpose.  My 
observation  has  been  that  this  information  is 
not  sufficiently  fresh;  that  it  trails  along  too 
far  behind  the  actual  transaction.  Some  roads, 
like  the  Southern  and  the  'Frisco,  have  organ- 
ized special  bureaus  in  the  operating  depart- 
ment to  minimize  the  causes  of  freight  claims 
and  to  follow  up  discrepancies  while  the  case 
is  fresh;  in  other  words,  to  investigate  before 
the  claim  is  filed.  Sometimes  this  duplicates 
the  work  of  the  freight  claim  office  and  some- 
times it  does  not. 

So  bad  have  been  freight  loss  and  damage 
conditions  on  most  American  railroads  that  al- 
most any  kind  of  attention  has  resulted  in  im- 
provement. Nearly  every  road  can  cite  figures 
in  defense  of  its  particular  treatment  of  the 
situation.  There  are  many  good  ways.  In 
the  absence  of  an  absolute  unit  of  comparison 
the  best  way  must  be  largely  a  matter  of 
opinion.  To  me  the  logical  and  practical  prin- 
ciple has  been  discovereed  by  two  of  the  best 
managed  railroads  in  the  country,  the  Chicago 
&  North- Western  and  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio. 
55 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

These  roads,  among  others,  place  their  freight 
elaims  under  the  operating  department,  thus 
reserving  the  hair  of  the  dog  for  treatment  of 
its  bite.  With  such  a  system  the  general  man- 
ager controls  the  disbursements  to  operating 
expenses  for  which  he  is  responsible.  Under 
other  systems  the  general  manager  accepts 
charges  which  he  does  not  directly  control. 
Some  roads  have  endeavored  to  correct  this 
last  defect  by  requiring  claim  vouchers  to  be 
signed  by  the  general  manager  and  the  division 
superintendent.  This  beautiful  example  of 
circumlocution  is  expensive.  There  are  only 
twenty-four  hours  in  a  day,  and  even  claim 
papers  can  not  be  handled  for  nothing.  Fur- 
thermore, the  claimant  himself  refuses  to  see 
the  beauty  of  delaying  payment  to  carry  out  a 
theory.  In  some  states  he  has  secured  legisla- 
tion penalizing  railways  for  delay  in  settling 
intrastate  claims.  Can  you  blame  him?  The 
claimant  aforesaid  may  happen  to  be  a  coun- 
try merchant  waiting  for  the  way  freight  to 
come  in.  It  brings  him  six  boxes  of  groceries. 
In  his  presence,  and  that  of  the  agent,  the  way 
freight  brakeman  drops  and  spoils  a  box.  On 
many  roads,  not  only  is  the  agent  not  allowed 
to  pay  for  this  spoiled  box,  but  is  expected  to 
56 


PREVENTING  vs.  PAYING  CLAIMS. 

require  the  indignant  consignee  to  pay  the 
freight  on  all  six  boxes  before  removing  the 
other  five.  The  consignee  is  told  to  file  a  claim, 
which  then  makes  its  weary  round  through 
the  circumlocution  office  where  clerks  are  called 
investigators.  Such  companies  say  in  effect 
to  the  agent :  "Yes,  you  are  a  good  fellow ;  you 
get  us  a  lot  of  business;  you  handle  thousands 
of  dollars  of  our  money;  you  represent  us  in 
many  things;  you  must  understand,  however, 
that  a  freight  claim  is  a  specialty  requiring  ex- 
pert advice ;  a  bad  precedent  might  involve  us 
in  the  future;  you  know,  too,  we  might  be 
criticised  as  opening  the  way  to  grafting  by 
some  other  agents  if  we  let  you  pay  out  money 
without  authority  from  the  accounting  depart- 
ment; yes,  we  like  your  work  and  expect  to 
promote  you  in  the  sweet  by-and-by,"  etc.,  ad 
nauseam.  Fortunately,  these  narrow  views  are 
giving  place  to  more  enlightened  practices.  On 
several  railways  in  Texas  most  station  agents 
are  authorized  to  settle  instanter  certain  classes 
of  palpably  just  claims  up  to  $20  or  $25. 

Among  the  practical  advantages  of  claim 

control    by    the    operating    department    are 

quicker  recognition  of  lax  methods  causing 

claims,  better  discipline  and  morals  of  train 

57 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

and  station  forces,  prompter  settlement,  and 
greater  attention  to  seal  records.  The  Chesa- 
peake &  Ohio  makes  surprise  tests  by  breaking 
a  seal  and  resealing  the  car  with  a  different  seal 
to  see  if  the  next  man  copies  the  last  record, 
or  actually  takes  his  seal  record  from  the  car. 
This  road  also  appeals  to  the  human  element. 
Claims  settled  are  tentatively  charged  to  the 
conductor  or  agent  apparently  at  fault,  and  he 
is  given  an  opportunity  to  explain.  This  is  not 
real  money,  but  a  combination  of  Brown  sys- 
tem, Christian  Science  coin,  and  1907  clearing 
house  certificates.  The  practical  effect  is  very 
real,  however.  Each  man  learns  to  feel  a  re- 
sponsibility which  is  reflected  in  a  desire  for  a 
clean  record.  The  general  claim  agent,  who  is 
under  the  general  manager,  sends  monthly  to 
each  division  superintendent  a  list  showing  the 
name  of  every  freight  conductor  on  the  di- 
vision, with  number  of  claims,  if  any,  charged 
to  him  on  account  of  pilferage  from  train, 
rough  handling,  etc.  The  local  divisions  of  the 
Order  of  Railway  Conductors  have  been  inter- 
ested and  feel  some  responsibility  in  keeping 
the  work  of  their  members  upon  a  plane  above 
the  imputation  of  collusion  with  pilferage. 
Seek,  my  boy,  to  develop  the  higher  natures 
58 


PREVENTING  vs.  PAYING  CLAIMS. 

of  your  men  and  you  will  be  astonished  at  the 
response.  Let  them  know  that  you  know  what 
they  are  doing,  and  it  becomes  easier  for  them 
to  withstand  temptation. 

Freight  claims  are  a  fine  example  of  an  ex- 
aggerated specialty  resulting  in  unnecessary 
centralization.  The  whole  proposition  can  be 
decentralized  for  the  good  of  the  service.  Be- 
cause the  division  superintendent  can  not  well 
settle  interline  claims  of  other  divisions  is  no 
reason  why  his  forces  should  not  settle  such 
local  claims  as  concern  his  division. 

A  thorough  study  of  freight  claims  will 
bring  you  early  to  a  consideration  of  personal 
injury,  stock  and  fire  claims.  The  fad  has 
been  on  many  railroads  to  take  these  items  of 
operating  expenses  away  from  their  former  lo- 
cation in  the  operating  department  and  give 
them  to  the  legal  department.  This  exagger- 
ated view  of  the  laws  of  liability  is  partly  re- 
sponsible for  the  growth  of  the  damage  suit 
industry.  It  is  another  case  of  considering  a 
part  of  the  railway  at  the  expense  of  the  whole. 
We  need  legal  advice  and  expert  knowledge. 
The  true  function  of  the  expert  and  the  special- 
ist is  to  see  how  much  working  knowledge  he 
can  impart  to  the  layman  for  everyday  use  and 
59 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

reserve  himself  for  the  real  complications 
which,  if  his  tutelage  has  been  sound,  the  lay- 
man will  quickly  recognize  and  bring  back  for 
expert  assistance. 

Not  long  ago  I  happened  near  a  freight 
wreck.  One  of  the  cars  in  the  ditch  contained 
an  emigrant  outfit  in  charge  of  a  man.  This 
man  was  bruised,  but  not  seriously  injured. 
With  the  superintendent  and  the  wreck  train 
came  a  specialist,  a  claim  adjuster  for  the  legal 
department.  He  could  settle  only  the  personal 
injury.  The  damage  to  property  was  a  freight 
claJR^and  belonged  to  another  department,  the 
accounting,  not  formally  represented  at  the  im- 
promptu function,  and  over  which  the  superin- 
tendent as  master  of  ceremonies  had  no  juris- 
diction. The  various  items  of  operating  ex- 
penses involved  on  this  occasion  were  in  a  de- 
cidedly diverged  condition.  What  the  spirit- 
ualist medium  calls  the  control  was  in  this  case 
the  office  of  a  busy  president  some  fifteen  hun- 
dred miles  away.  Of  course,  the  company 
spirit  and  common  sense  guided  the  superin- 
tendent, and  he  made  the  best  of  circum- 
stances; perhaps  risking  criticism  and  censure 
for  crossing  sacred  departmental  lines.  What 
do  you  think  of  a  system  that  breaks  down  in 
60 


PREVENTING  vs.  PAYING  CLAIMS. 

emergencies?  Is  not  an  emergency  a  test  of  a 
system,  a  proof  of  its  elasticity?  Can  we  de- 
velop the  highest  efficiency  of  superintendents 
when  we,  the  executive  and  general  officers, 
place  upon  them  the  burden  of  departing  from 
a  system  that  fails  to  meet  their  practical  prob- 
lems ?  Is  it  not  a  species  of  unconscious  admin- 
istrative cowardice  for  boards  of  directors  to 
impose  implied  and  practical  responsibility 
without  conferring  corresponding  authority? 
Can  such  questions  be  ignored  as  exceptional, 
trifling,  and  captious?  Do  they  not  reach  to 
the  heart  of  railway  organization  and  ef- 
ficiency ?  Will  the  railways  correct  such  errors 
themselves,  or  will  they  await  once  more  the 
remedy  by  legislatures  and  commissions? 

If  a  study  of  conditions  does  not  convince 
you  theoretically  that  one  claim  bureau  should 
handle  freight,  stock,  fire,  and  personal  injury 
claims — in  short  all  claims  covering  injuries  to 
persons  and  damages  to  property — go  down  on 
the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  and  watch  them  do  it 
practically.  Instead  of  several  specialists  du- 
plicating each  other's  itineraries,  you  will  find 
some  all-round  claim  men  doing  a  variety  of 
practical  stunts.  When  they  do  strike  a  really 
different  and  highly  technical  case,  they  utilize 
61 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

the  services  of  their  best  specialist  in  that  par- 
ticular line,  not  infrequently  the  general  claim 
agent  himself.  Overcharge  claims  are  very 
properly  handled  under  their  traffic  auditor, 
being  a  matter  of  correction  and  not  of  operat- 
ing disbursement.  Were  it  up  to  me,  I  would 
make  the  general  claim  agent  an  assistant  gen- 
eral manager,  so  that  in  claim  matters  he 
would  have  rank  and  authority  superior  to  the 
division  superintendent's.  The  division  claim 
agent  I  would  make  an  assistant  superinten- 
dent, so  that  in  claim  matters  he  would  have 
rank  and  authority  superior  to  all  employes  on 
the  division. 

On  this  last  division  feature  I  once  con- 
vinced my  old  friend,  Cant  B.  Dunn,  by  a  long, 
practical  test. 

Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 


62 


LETTER  VII. 

THE  CHIEF  OF  STAFF  IDEA. 

San  Antonio,  Texas,  May  20,  1911. 

My  Dear  Boy : — Let  me  tell  you  something 
about  a  wonderfully  effective  human  machine, 
the  Confederate  Army.  I  sit  facing  a  Con- 
federate monument  which  depicts  a  self-reliant 
son  of  the  Southland,  the  type  of  man  real  rail- 
way training  helps  to  perpetuate.  Hard  by  is 
a  shrine  to  valor,  the  Alamo,  a  reminder  of  the 
duty  of  altruism  which  an  individual  owes  to 
his  fellows. 

Fifty  years  ago  two  great  armies  were  or- 
ganized to  fight  to  a  practical,  working  conclu- 
sion some  of  the  indefinite  compromises  of  the 
Federal  Constitution.  Each  army  was  sup- 
ported by  the  intelligent  spirit  of  an  aroused 
people.  Each  sought  in  its  organization  and 
operation  to  give  the  most  effective  expression 
to  that  spirit.  Jefferson  Davis  and  his  advisers 
sought  to  profit  by  the  experience  of  the  old 
United  States  Army  and  to  avoid  inherent 
weaknesses  in  its  organization.  So  the  Con- 
federate Congress  created  the  grades  of  gen. 
eral  and  of  lieutenant  general,  in  order  that  a 
63 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

general  might  command  a  separate  field  army, 
a  lieutenant  general  a  corps,  a  major  general 
a  division,  and  a  brigadier  general  a  brigade. 
By  thus  more  exactly  defining  official  status, 
jealousies  were  minimized.  Until  Grant  was 
made  lieutenant  general  in  1864,  the  Federal 
Army  had  only  two  grades  of  general  officers, 
major  general  and  brigadier  general.  This  led 
to  confusion,  to  bickerings,  and  to  petty  jeal- 
ousies. Since  a  major  general  might  command 
such  distinct  and  self-contained  units  of  organ- 
ization as  a  division,  a  corps,  or  a  separate  field 
army,  numerous  special  assignments  by  the 
President  became  necessary. 

The  Confederate  Army  had  another  feature 
of  organization  that  was  epoch-making.  Sam- 
uel Cooper  had  been  adjutant  general  of  the 
United  States  Army,  with  the  rank  of  briga- 
dier general,  issuing  orders  over  his  own  sig- 
nature from  Washington  "by  command  of" 
somebody  else — Brevet  Lieutenant  General 
Scott  or  the  Secretary  of  War.  Because  of 
his  acknowledged  efficiency  in  office  work  and 
administrative  routine,  Samuel  Cooper  was 
made  adjutant  general  and  inspector  general  of 
the  Confederate  Army.  Did  they  give  him  the 
rank  of  brigadier  general?  No,  sir;  they  made 
64 


THE  CHIEF  OF  STAFF  IDEA. 

him  a  full  general,  and  number  one  on  the  list, 
senior  to  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  Robert  E. 
Lee,  Joseph  E.  Johnston  and  G.  T.  Beauregard, 
who,  as  generals  at  one  time  or  another,  com- 
manded separate  field  armies  or  territorial 
military  departments.  General  Cooper  at  a 
desk  in  Richmond  was  the  ranking  officer  of 
the  Confederate  Army.  This  detracted  not  one 
iota  from  the  fame  of  Lee,  the  great  soldier 
and  the  first  gentleman  of  the  South.  On  the 
contrary,  the  increased  efficiency  due  to  receiv- 
ing instructions  from  a  real  superior,  not 
under-strappers  or  chief  clerks,  made  greater 
the  reputation  of  Lee.  From  one  viewpoint 
General  Cooper  was  a  high-class  chief  clerk 
for  his  President  and  the  Secretary  of  War. 
From  a  broader  view  he  was  their  technically 
trained,  highly  efficient  chief  of  staff. 

The  Confederate  Army  gave  in  effect,  but 
not  in  name,  the  chief  of  staff  idea  to  the 
world  as  a  great  object  lesson  in  the  applied 
science  of  organization.  Historians  say  that 
Jefferson  Davis,  himself  a  graduate  of  West 
Point,  a  veteran  of  the  Mexican  war,  and  Sec- 
retary of  War  in  the  cabinet  of  Pierce,  med- 
dled too  much  in  military  affairs  when  as  Pres- 
ident he  should  have  been  attending  also  to 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

civil  affairs.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  organiza- 
tion was  elastic  enough  to  meet  just  such  va- 
riations of  personal  equation.  Whether  the 
President,  the  Secretary  of  War  or  the  adju- 
tant general  (chief  of  staff)  acted  in  a  par- 
ticular case,  the  subordinate  knew  who  took 
the  responsibility  and  that  the  action  came 
from  a  real  superior  in  rank. 

The  Confederacy  fell.  The  passions  of  the 
time,  the  shortsightedness  of  prejudice,  pre- 
cluded the  adoption  at  that  time  by  the  United 
States  of  any  feature  of  the  Confederate  or- 
ganization, however  meritorious  in  principle 
and  practice.  It  remained  for  the  Germans, 
already  applying  the  idea,  to  dazzle  the  world 
in  1870  and  conquer  France  by  the  work  of 
their  general  staff  and  its  able  chief,  von 
Moltke.  Not  until  after  the  costly  lessons  of 
the  little  war  with  Spain  in  1898  did  our  Con- 
gress wake  up  and  give  the  United  States 
Army  a  general  staff  and  a  chief  of  staff.  The 
new  law  includes  several  desirable  features  of 
elasticity.  Among  these  is  a  provision  for  the 
selection  by  each  administration  of  its  own 
chief  of  staff.  A  permanent  chief  of  staff 
might  be  an  obstructionist  or  might  become  too 
perfunctory  in  compliance.  The  law  wisely 
66 


THE  CHIEF  OF  STAFF  IDEA. 

limits  the  selection  of  a  chief  of  staff  to  about 
twenty  general  officers.  This  prevents  playing 
untrained  favorites.  It  permits  any  passenger 
conductor  to  be  made  superintendent,  but  for- 
bids selecting  an  extra  brakeman  or  the  call 
boy.  Furthermore,  if  conditions  change  or  a 
new  administration  arrives,  the  chief  of  staff 
is  not  penalized  for  efficiency  by  losing  out  en- 
tirely, but  reverts  to  his  permanent  status ;  the 
superintendent  holds  his  rights  as  a  conductor 
and  bids  in  a  good  run  according  to  his  per- 
manent seniority.  This  feature  of  good  organ- 
ization, the  conferring  of  definite  local  superior 
rank,  and  the  protection  of  the  incumbent  from 
unnecessary  degradation,  was  discovered  cen- 
turies ago  by  another  effective  institution,  the 
Catholic  church. 

Life  is  a  composite.  The  Army,  like  several 
railways,  has  been  waking  up  to  the  fact  that 
a  lesson  can  be  learned  from  the  civil  courts. 
A  large  city  may  have  several  courts  and 
judges.  A  judge  may  sit  for  one  term  in  the 
equity  court,  then  in  the  criminal  branch,  and 
next  in  a  court  en  bane.  All  the  time  there  is 
only  one  office  of  record,  one  clerk  of  the  court, 
with  as  many  deputies  as  may  be  found  neces- 
sary. When  one  judge  wishes  to  know  what 
67 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

another  judge  has  done,  the  former  does  not 
write  the  latter  a  letter  to  inquire,  but  sends  to 
the  clerk's  office  and  gets  the  complete  record 
up  to  date. 

Are  the  railroads  above  copying  sound 
working  principles  of  efficiency  from  such  tried 
institutions  as  the  Army,  the  Navy,  the  civil 
courts  and  the  churches?  Certainly  not,  as 
some  roads  are  showing  in  a  highly  practical 
way.  Such  movements  as  these  are  but  expres- 
sions of  a  cosmic  tendency,  greater  and  more 
powerful  than  any  one  branch  of  human  ac- 
tivity. Such  trends  of  progress  are  noted  by 
observers  who  happen  to  be  favored  with  a 
view  from  the  watch  towers  and  who  are  able 
to  make  suitable  adaptations  because  they  real- 
ize that  ideas  are  greater  than  men,  that  prac- 
tical devices  are  greater  than  their  inventors. 

Sound  ideas  often  depend  for  their  develop- 
ment and  permanency  as  working  practices 
upon  some  great  exponent  of  acknowledged  ca- 
pacity for  leadership.  In  1870  Bismarck  had 
baited  on  the  French  and  von  Moltke  had 
planned  their  discomfiture.  In  1870  General 
Robert  E.  Lee,  entering  upon  the  last  year  of 
his  life,  was  president  of  Washington  and  Lee 
University  at  Lexington,  Virginia,  where 
68 


THE  CHIEF  OF  STAFF  IDEA. 

Colonel  Allan,  of  Stonewall  Jackson's  staff, 
was  a  prominent  professor.  There  came  to  sit 
at  the  feet  of  these  great  teachers  a  mere  boy  in 
years,  but  an  adult  in  intellectual  grasp.  This 
callow  youth  was  of  German  lineage,  but  born 
and  reared  in  New  Orleans,  a  city  stamped 
with  the  civilization  of  the  French.  Perhaps 
this  modest  youngster  dreamed  that  twenty 
years  later  he  would  be  a  great  railroad  en- 
gineer— hardly,  though,  that  in  forty  years  he 
would,  as  a  great  railway  operating  man,  be 
called  the  von  Moltke  of  transportation. 
Strange,  indeed,  that  this  von  Moltke,  Julius 
Kruttschnitt,  should  find  his  opportunity  for 
highest  development  under  the  Napoleon  of 
our  profession,  Edward  H.  Harriman,  himself 
among  the  last  of  the  feudal  railway  barons. 
Stranger  still  that  as  this  Napoleon  was  pass- 
ing his  von  Moltke  was  starting  the  railways 
away  from  feudalism  in  interior  administra- 
tion by  introducing  within  the  latter's  own 
sphere  the  chief  of  staff  idea  of  the  Confeder- 
ate, the  German,  and  the  American  armies. 
For,  my  boy,  the  unit  system  of  organization 
on  the  Harriman  Lines,  of  which  you  have 
read  more  or  less,  is  primarily  a  substitution  of 
the  modern  chief  of  staff  idea  for  the  out- 
69 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

grown,  dwarfing,  irrational  government  by 
chief  clerks.* 

The  unit  system  of  organization  requires 
that  an  official,  whether  the  head  of  the  unit  or 
an  assistant,  shall,  when  absent  on  the  line,  be 
represented  at  headquarters  by  the  senior  or 
chief  assistant  of  the  unit.  Such  senior  or 
chief  assistant  is  in  effect,  though  not  in  name, 
the  chief  of  staff.  Normally,  this  senior  is  num- 
ber one  on  the  list  of  assistants,  but  whoever 
is  so  acting  becomes,  as  above  explained,  the 
senior  for  the  time  being,  and  when  relieved 
reverts  to  his  permanent  place  on  the  list.  Ro- 
tation for  this  chief  of  staff  depends  largely 
on  the  personal  equation  of  the  head  of  the 
unit  and  of  his  various  assistants.  In  the  last 
two  years  some  divisions  have  not  rotated  the 
chief  of  staff  at  all.  One  superintendent  who 
credits  the  system  with  increased  supervision 
and  notable  decreases  in  expenses  is  now  rotat- 
ing his  assistants  in  the  senior  chair  every  two 
weeks. 

There  are  diverse  views  on  the  subject  of  ro- 
tation in  general.  My  own  opinion  is  that  it 
may  or  may  not  be  desirable.  I  incline  rather 

*  See  appendix  for  a  description  of  the  unit  system 
of  organization. 

70 


THE  CHIEF  OF  STAFF  IDEA. 

to  rotation  because  it  seems  to  be  a  biological 
concomitant  of  rational  evolution.  Nature  ro- 
tates her  seasons  and  her  types.  Where,  as  in 
the  tropics,  there  is  less  rotation  we  find  more 
stagnation  and  quicker  death.  Many  soils  are 
impoverished  by  neglect  of  proper  crop  rota- 
tion. The  other  day  in  a  terminal,  I  found  a 
superintendent  lately  rotated,  like  a  Methodist 
minister,  from  another  division.  Favored  with 
a  fresh  viewpoint,  Jie  was  having  switch  en- 
gines give  trains  a  start  out  of  the  yard,  and 
was  taking  off  a  helper  engine  which  for  years 
had  seemed  an  unavoidable  expense.  For  what 
was  in  this  particular  instance  a  case  of  over- 
specialization  he  was  substituting  engines 
which  could  more  economically  perform  the 
dual  functions  of  switching  and  of  pushing. 

Speaking  of  yards,  see  if  you  have  not  some 
bright  fellows  on  your  staff  who  can  figure 
out  a  car  record  that  can  be  taken  by  the  me- 
chanical men,  the  car  inspectors,  that  will  an- 
swer all  the  purposes  of  transportation,  includ- 
ing claims.  Instead  of  two  sets  of  specialists, 
car  inspectors  and  yard  clerks,  partly  duplicat- 
ing each  other's  work,  see  if  you  cannot  de- 
velop one  set  of  all  'round  men  with  some  in- 
terchangeability  of  function.  No,  you  cannot 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

do  it  all  at  once.  Even  if  you  have  a  workable 
scheme  it  will  take  a  long  time  to  establish. 
The  Brown  system  of  discipline  required  nearly 
twenty  years  for  its  complete  extension  to  prac- 
tically all  American  railroads,  although  in  suc- 
cessful operation  for  nearly  a  hundred  years 
at  the  United  States  Military  Academy  at 
West  Point.  The  demerit  system  is  better 
handled  at  West  Point  than  is  the  Brown  sys- 
tem on  railways.  This  is  because  most  of  the 
officers  are  relatively  better  trained  than  rail- 
road officials,  having  all  been  through  the  mill 
themselves.  Better  training  cultivates  the  judi- 
cial quality.  Too  often  the  number  of  Brown- 
ies does  not  depend  upon  a  fixed  scale  for  a  like 
offense,  but  rather  upon  how  mad  the  superin- 
tendent is  or  on  how  hard  he  has  been  pounded 
by  the  typewriter  in  the  offices  above. 

Before  you  condemn  any  system  be  certain 
that  its  apparent  shortcomings  are  not  the  fault 
of  your  own  interpretation  and  administration. 
We  used  to  speak  of  engine  failures  alone. 
Nowadays  we  distinguish  as  between  engine 
failures  and  man  failures.  Likewise  there  is 
a  difference  between  a  system  failure  and  a 
man  failure.  Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 
72 


LETTER  VIII. 

THE    UNIT    SYSTEM. 

Galveston,  Texas,  May  27,  1911. 
My  Dear  Boy : — We  were  talking  of  the  unit 
system  of  organization.  There  is  little  that  is 
new  about  the  system.  Like  many  useful 
things  in  this  world,  it  is  mainly  an  adaptation 
of  some  very  old  principles  and  practices. 
From  one  viewpoint  it  is  a  rational  extension 
of  the  simple  principles  of  train  dispatching. 
The  standard  code  does  not  attempt  to  supply 
the  place  of  judgment  in  a  train  dispatcher. 
It  does  not  tell  him  when  to  put  out  a  meet  or 
a  wait  order.  When  his  judgment  dictates 
the  necessity  for  any  particular  action,  the 
standard  code  comes  into  play  by  prescribing 
forms,  by  imposing  checks  and  safeguards,  by 
simplifying  methods,  and  by  unifying  prac- 
tices. This  gives  greater  opportunity  for  ini- 
tiative and  originality  on  the  part  of  the 
dispatcher  by  making  routine  the  detailed  por- 
tion of  the  process.  He  has  more  time  to 
think. 

73 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

Because  the  unit  system  leaves  so  much  to 
the  thinking  capacity  of  the  men  below,  some 
people  have  found  it  difficult  to  understand. 
Many  codes  of  organization  attempt  to  cover 
in  advance  all  the  various  cases  that  may  come 
up.  The  unit  system  enunciates  principles  and 
prescribes  methods,  but  leaves  independence  of 
action  to  the  man  on  the  ground.  He  is  for 
the  time  being  the  judge  as  to  what  principle 
to  apply.  When  men  are  carefully  trained 
their  first  impulse  is  to  do  the  right  thing. 
This  impulse  has  been  dwarfed  and  deadened 
on  many  railroads  by  artificial  restraints  which 
make  a  man  doubtful  of  his  authority.  The 
unit  system  reverses  some  old  presumptions 
and  puts  the  burden  of  doubt  upon  him  who 
questions  the  official  authority. 

We  have  to  take  human  nature  as  we  find 
it,  not  as  we  think  it  should  be.  The  master 
mechanic  or  the  division  engineer  is  riding  on 
the  rear  of  a  train,  at  the  company's  expense, 
and  tells  a  young  flagman  that  the  latter  did 
not  go  back  far  enough.  If  the  flagman  does 
not  tell  the  official  to  go  to  h ,  the  train- 
master probably  will.  The  trainmaster  says, 
"This  is  my  department,  you  have  interfered 
with  my  man."  That  is  the  old  feudal  concep- 
74 


THE  UNIT  SYSTEM. 

tion.  He  is  not  my  man  but  the  company's 
for  service,  and  his  own  for  individuality  and 
citizenship.  Let  the  master  mechanic  or  the 
division  engineer  of  many  years'  service  re- 
port the  flagman  whose  tenure  may  have  been 
very  brief.  Human  nature  is  such  that  the 
trainmaster,  stung  by  an  implied  reflection, 
constitutes  himself  attorney  for  the  defense. 
The  papers  grind  through  the  baskets  of  the 
chief  clerks.  By  and  by,  when  everybody  con- 
cerned has  forgotten  the  incident,  the  papers 
come  back  with  assurances  of  distinguished 
consideration  and  politely  intimate  that  the  case 
was  not  quite  as  bad  as  represented.  The  old 
official,  in  a  measure  discredited,  soon  stops 
concerning  himself  with  flagmen.  The  man- 
agement, the  stockholders,  and  the  public  lose 
just  so  much  possible  protection  through  in- 
creased supervision.  The  salary  and  the  ex- 
pense account  of  the  traveling  official  go  on 
just  the  same. 

On  the  Harriman  Lines  the  master  me- 
chanic, like  the  division  engineer,  has  the  rank, 
title,  and  authority  of  assistant  superintendent. 
Mind  you,  it  is  not  assistant  superintendent  in 
charge  of  thus  and  so,  but  just  assistant  super- 
intendent. An  attempt  to  define  duties  in  a 
75 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

circular  of  appointment  might  imply  that  all 
the  responsibilities  not  enumerated  would  be 
necessarily  excluded.  So  the  assistant  superin- 
tendent quietly  speaks  to  the  young  flagman, 
who  profits  by  the  instruction,  and  the  incident 
is  closed  without  recourse  to  the  typewriter. 
For  the  technical  brief  to  the  Supreme  Court 
there  is  substituted  the  rough  and  ready  but 
surer  justice  of  the  police  magistrate.  The 
employe  still  has  the  right  to  appeal  just  as  he 
had  before,  but  seldom  or  never  does  he  exer- 
cise it.  There  are,  of  course,  intelligent  limi- 
tations to  all  authority.  The  mechanical  as- 
sistant, or  the  maintenance  assistant  should 
not,  for  example,  order  the  flagman  to  buy  a 
new  uniform.  Common  sense  and  courtesy 
have  proved  effectual  safeguards  against  abuse 
of  authority. 

The  underlying  principle  that  responsibility 
breeds  conservatism  in  action  has  operated  to 
prevent  those  unseemly  clashes  of  authority 
which  many  predicted.  The  good  sense  of  the 
superintendents  has  served  as  an  effectual  bal- 
ance wheel  to  maintain  smooth  running.  The 
unit  system  does  not  deny  or  dispute  the  neces- 
sity for  specialized  talent  for  technical  activi- 
ties. It  insists,  however,  that  increased  super- 
76 


THE  UNIT  SYSTEM. 

vision  of  the  countless  phases  of  operation  can 
be  gained  by  utilizing  all  the  official  talent 
available.  In  many  cases  such  increased  super- 
vision is  a  by-product.  The  maintenance  assist- 
ant is  inspecting  track.  The  train  stops.  He 
cannot  resume  track  inspection  until  the  train 
starts.  Meantime,  he  may  be  able  to  find  time 
to  see  if  the  conductor  receives  his  orders 
promptly,  if  the  dispatcher  uses  good  judg- 
ment, if  the  station  forces  are  alert,  if  the  pub- 
lic are  being  well  handled,  if  the  news  butcher 
has  his  wares  over  several  needed  seats  in  the 
smoking  car.  He  may  even  go  to  the  head 
end  and  tell  the  eagle  eye  how  the  black  smoke 
indicates  that  the  fire  boy  could  save  his  own 
back  and  the  company's  good  money  by  less 
liberal  use  of  the  shovel.  Anything  very  tech- 
nical requiring  the  presence  of  specialists  for 
all  these  things?  Of  course,  if  a  special  prob- 
lem develops,  such  as  a  badly  adjusted  draft,  it 
may  be  necessary  later  to  get  the  more  expert 
attention  of  a  mechanical  assistant.  Often, 
however,  before  this  stage  is  reached  there  can 
be  rendered  much  economical  first  aid  to  in- 
jured operating  expenses.  This  increased  su- 
pervision, be  it  much  or  little,  is  clear  gain  for 
the  company.  It  means  more  effort  for  the  of- 
77 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

ficial,  but  that  is  what  he  is  paid  for.  It  is 
usually  better  in  zero  weather  to  have  the  old 
master  mechanic  and  the  old  traveling  engi- 
neer as  assistant  superintendents  riding  differ- 
ent trains  on  the  road  than  to  have  them  sitting 
in  a  comfortable  office  writing  letters  to  each 
other  about  engines  that  failed  last  week  or 
last  month. 

Once  upon  a  time  a  traveling  engineer  talked 
through  a  telegraphone  to  a  dispatcher.  The 
latter  requested  the  former  to  have  the  freight 
train  pull  into  clear  to  let  another  train  by.  The 
conductor  was  not  in  sight.  He  was  probably 
in  the  caboose  making  out  some  of  those  im- 
aginary reports  about  which  grievance  com- 
mittees tell  us  and  which  are  most  in  evidence 
during  investigations  of  head-end  collisions. 
So,  this  member  of  the  ancient  and  honorable 
order  of  attorneys  for  the  brotherhood  told 
the  brakemen  where  to  head  in.  Whereupon 
with  much  professional  profanity  the  train- 
men declined,  saying  that  no  traveling  engineer 
could  tell  them  what  to  do.  The  superintend- 
ent took  the  brakemen  out  of  service.  They 
got  back  only  on  request  of  the  traveling  en- 
gineer to  whom  they  apologized.  While  au- 
thority was  vindicated,  an  undesirable  situa- 
78 


THE  UNIT  SYSTEM. 

tion  had  been  developed.  No  matter  how  em- 
phatic the  vindication  may  be,  it  is  as  bad  for 
discipline  to  have  authority  questioned  as  for  a 
woman  to  have  her  virtue  impugned.  Since 
then  the  unit  system  on  that  division  has  made 
the  traveling  engineer  an  assistant  superintend- 
ent, and  the  question  of  authority  does  not 
arise. 

Out  in  that  part  of  the  country  a  fast  train 
was  pulling  out  of  a  terminal.  The  train- 
master was  out  on  the  road.  His  clerk  signed 
the  trainmaster's  name  to  a  message,  telling 
the  old  passenger  conductor  to  make  a  stop 
to  deliver  what  to  the  clerk  was  an  important 
letter,  ran  down  and  handed  both  to  the  con- 
ductor. The  latter  demurred,  saying  that 
under  his  running  orders  the  stop  would  make 
him  miss  a  meeting  point.  The  clerk  insisted 
and  when  the  conductor  disregarded  the  mes- 
sage the  latter  was  taken  out  of  service.  This 
was  done  on  the  old  feudal  theory  that  the 
trainmaster's  name  and  position  must  be  re- 
spected. By  the  same  reasoning  a  bank  teller 
should  honor  a  check  on  which  he  knows  the 
signature  is  forged.  Since  then  the  unit  sys- 
tem on  that  division  requires  everyone  to  do 
business  in  his  own  name.  Employes  obey  the 
79 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

instructions  of  men  shown  by  name  on  the  time 
card,  and  are  not  at  the  mercy  of  clerks.  The 
old  trainmaster's  name  is  more  respected  be- 
cause it  is  signed  only  by  himself  and  is  not 
cheapened  by  use  by  Tom,  Dick  and  Harry. 
(Anvil  chorus:  "Such  things  couldn't  happen 
on  our  road."  Perhaps  not,  but  they  do  just 
the  same,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree. ) 

When  a  conductor  reports  for  train  orders 
he  has  a  right  to  know  that  a  competent  dis- 
patcher is  on  duty.  He  cannot  dictate,  how- 
ever, what  particular  dispatcher  shall  work  the 
trick  and  give  him  his  orders.  The  unit  sys- 
tem carries  this  same  principle  to  correspond- 
ence and  reports.  It  denies  the  right  of  the 
employe  to  dictate  what  official  shall  handle 
a  certain  letter  or  report,  under  normal  condi- 
tions. The  report  is  addressed  impersonally 
"Assistant  Superintendent,"  and  the  office  de- 
cides what  official  is  most  available.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  common  sense  the  expert  in  that  line 
will  be  utilized.  In  his  absence,  however,  his 
feudal  representative,  a  clerk,  will  not  act  for 
him.  The  clerk  may  prepare  the  papers,  but 
final  action  can  be  taken  only  by  an  official. 
Highly  technical  problems  are  sent  to  the  ab- 
sent official  on  the  road  or  await  his  return. 
80 


THE  UNIT  SYSTEM. 

Each  assistant  may  issue  instructions,  in  his 
own  name,  to  such  subordinates  on  his  own 
pay  roll  as  roadmasters  under  the  maintenance 
assistant,  foremen  under  the  mechanical  assist- 
ant, yardmasters  under  the  transportation  as- 
sistant, etc.,  etc.  Before  these  instructions 
leave  the  office,  they  should  pass,  like  all  cor- 
respondence, over  the  desk  of  the  senior  assist- 
ant (chief  of  staff)  for  his  information  and  for 
the  prevention  of  possible  conflict  and  confu- 
sion. Here,  again,  is  a  principle  of  train  dis- 
patching. All  orders  concerning  the  running 
of  trains  go  over  the  dispatcher's  table.  Should 
there  not  be  a  similar  check  imposed  on  official 
instructions  and  information  imparted  to  hun- 
dreds of  delicate,  sensitive,  human  machines, 
made  in  the  image  of  God  ? 

Why  are  not  communications  and  reports 
addressed  "Superintendent?"  Because  there 
would  be  an  implied  obligation  for  the  superin- 
tendent to  act.  This  obligation  cannot  be  ad- 
mitted under  normal  conditions.  Therefore, 
to  be  honest  and  straightforward,  the  address 
is  "Assistant  Superintendent."  Under  this  sys- 
tem the  employe  knows  that  some  assistant 
will  see  his  communication,  not  the  clerk  of 
somebody  else.  If  the  employe  desires  a  par- 
Si 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

ticular  official  to  see  his  communication,  he 
makes  it  personal  by  prefixing  that  official's 
name. 

Any  employe  can  address  the  superintendent 
by  name  for  the  same  good  reason  that  the 
humblest  citizen  can  appear  in  his  own  behalf 
in  any  court  in  the  land.  Though  the  court 
is  open,  neither  the  citizen  nor  his  attorney  can 
normally  dictate  what  judge  shall  hear  his  case. 
Authority  is  abstract  and  impersonal.  The 
court  exists  if  the  judge  is  dead.  The  exercise 
of  authority  is  concrete  and  highly  personal. 
The  court  is  silent  until  the  judge  speaks. 
Conversely,  the  superintendent  as  the  head  of 
the  unit  may  address  any  employe  direct  with- 
out going  through  the  assistant  on  whose  pay- 
roll the  employe  is  carried.  Common  sense 
and  the  personal  equation  of  the  officials  con- 
cerned indicate  how  far  this  elastic  feature  can 
be  carried.  Courtesy  requires  prompt  notifica- 
tion of  the  assistant  concerned.  Officials  have 
superiors,  and  to  attempt  to  convey  the  idea 
that  each  is  a  feudal  chief,  when  in  reality  he 
is  not,  can  result  only  in  self-deception.  The 
practice  of  each  division  superintendent  re- 
issuing verbatim  in  his  own  name  instruction 
circulars  from  the  office  of  the  superintendent 
82 


THE  UNIT  SYSTEM. 

of  transportation   is  misleading  and   ridicu- 
lous. 

All  instructions  from  general  officers,  in- 
cluding the  general  manager,  should  come  to 
employes  through  the  superintendent's  office, 
not  only  to  respect  the  integrity  of  the  organi- 
zation unit,  but  to  preserve  a  history  of  the 
transaction  in  the  authorized  office  of  record 
— to  get  all  the  runs,  including  the  general 
manager's  special,  on  the  right  train  sheet  as 
it  were.  Whoever  acts,  whether  the  superin- 
tendent himself  or  an  assistant,  has  at  hand  in 
one  office  of  record  full  information  for  his 
guidance.  You  understand  that  the  superin- 
tendent is  boss.  He  may  see  any  or  all  com- 
munications from  employes  as  he  thinks  fit. 
Where  previously  he  instructed  his  chief  clerk 
what  to  bring  to  him  personally,  such  instruc- 
tion he  now  gives  to  his  chief  of  staff.  An 
employe  who  addressed  "Assistant  Superin- 
tendent" may  receive  a  reply  signed  by  the  su- 
perintendent himself.  This  is  an  honest  rec- 
ord, not  a  subterfuge.  Some  assistant,  the 
chief  of  staff,  has  handled  the  paper  as  well  as 
the  superintendent  himself.  To  the  subordi- 
nate the  superintendent  is  normally  an  inci- 
dental representative  of  authority  entitled  to 
83 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

the  greater  respect  to  be  given  his  higher  rank. 
To  the  general  offices,  and  to  co-ordinate  units, 
the  superintendent  is  an  essential  head  of  a 
component  unit  who  must  not  be  ignored. 
Therefore,  since  there  is  an  implied  obligation 
for  the  superintendent  to  answer  superior  au- 
thority himself,  all  communications  from  supe- 
rior and  co-ordinate  authority  are  addressed 
impersonally,  "Superintendent."  A  railway  is 
so  extensive  that  the  superintendent  should 
spend  at  least  half  the  time  out  on  his  division. 
In  his  absence  the  chief  of  staff  is  allowed  to 
communicate  with  the  general  offices  and  other 
divisions  in  his  own  name,  but  "for  the  super- 
intendent." The  superintendent  may  answer 
from  the  road  himself,  but  in  any  case  the  gen- 
eral offices  know  who  has  really  taken  action. 
Going  down  on  the  division  any  assistant  may 
sign,  subject  to  review  by  the  chief  of  staff. 
Going  up  to  higher  authority  only  the  superin- 
tendent or  his  chief  of  staff  may  sign.  The 
rights  of  the  individual  assistants  are  preserved 
by  permitting  any  one  to  go  on  record  to  the 
general  offices  when  he  so  desires.  He  writes 
his  letter,  addresses  it  "Assistant  Superintend- 
ent," and  takes  it  to  either  the  superintendent 
or  chief  of  staff  and  requests  that  it  be  for- 
84 


THE  UNIT  SYSTEM. 

warded.  In  this  exceptional  case  a  letter  of 
transmittal  is  written  setting  forth  the  views  of 
the  superintendent.  A  cat  may  look  at  a  king. 
A  meritorious  idea  should  not  be  throttled  be- 
cause it  does  not  happen  to  appeal  to  the  next 
superior. 

When  a  division  official  on  any  road  rides 
a  train,  he  does  not  first  thing  try  to  tell  the 
conductor  what  meeting  points  should  be  made. 
He  usually  says,  "Let  me  see  your  orders," 
which  is  in  effect  asking  the  conductor  what 
the  dispatcher  has  said  must  be  done.  Pro- 
tected by  this  vital  information  the  official  may 
then  venture  some  suggestions.  In  the  prelim- 
inary lecture  explaining  the  unwritten  laws  of 
the  unit  system  the  new  assistant  superintend- 
ents are  cautioned  to  apply  the  same  principle. 
They  are  not  to  see  how  much  trouble  they  can 
make,  but  how  little.  If  the  transportation 
assistant,  for  example,  pulls  up  to  a  water  tank 
at  7 120  a.  m.  and  sees  the  section  men  just  go- 
ing to  work,  he  does  not  jump  on  the  foreman 
for  being  late,  but  quietly  asks,  "What  are 
your  working  hours?  What  time  does  the 
roadmaster  tell  you  to  begin  work?"  The 
moral  effect  of  the  presence  of  an  alert,  ob- 
serving official,  armed  with  sufficient  authority, 
8s 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

becomes  an  asset  of  value  to  the  stockholders. 
We  have  not  enough  officials  to  ride  every 
train  and  cover  every  point.  The  more  open, 
intelligent  supervision  we  can  get  from  each 
official  the  better  should  be  the  operation.  Of 
course,  if  the  officials  were  not  experienced 
railway  men  a  condition  of  nagging  and  raw- 
hiding  might  result  which  would  prove  fatal. 
What  the  unit  system  does  is  to  try  to  make 
potential  the  latent  knowledge  and  ability 
which  every  official  possesses  in  a  greater  or 
less  degree.  The  old  over-specialized  system 
denies  that  this  stored-up  reserve  exists  to  any 
practicable  extent. 

The  fact  that  the  title  of  assistant  superin- 
tendent is  uniform  tends  to  bring  out  the  real 
individuality  of  the  different  assistants.  Each 
has  to  have  his  name  on  the  door  of  his  private 
office.  As  we  hear  less  and  less  of  "my  de- 
partment5' and  more  and  more  of  "this  divi- 
sion/* the  references  to  "the  trainmaster,"  "the 
master  mechanic,"  etc.,  etc.,  give  way  to  "Mr. 
A.,"  "Mr.  B.,"  etc.  The  assistant  superintend- 
ents have  definite  seniority,  and  when  two  or 
more  come  together  under  circumstances  ren- 
dering it  necessary,  as  at  a  wreck,  the  senior 
present  takes  charge  and  becomes  responsible. 
86 


THE  UNIT  SYSTEM. 

Remember  that  rank  and  authority  can  be  con- 
ferred by  seniority  in  grade  as  well  as  by 
grade  itself. 

The  scriptural  warning  that  no  man  can 
serve  two  masters  is  still  applicable.  In  our 
case  the  master  is  the  corporation,  represented 
at  different  times  by  various  individuals  clothed 
with  authority.  The  conductor  runs  his  train 
under  the  laws  of  the  land,  the  policy  of  the 
president,  the  rules  of  the  general  manager, 
the  bulletins  of  the  superintendent,  the  assign- 
ment of  an  assistant  superintendent,  the  orders 
of  a  dispatcher.  He  collects  tickets  and  fares 
as  directed  by  the  general  passenger  agent  and 
reports  on  forms  prescribed  by  the  auditor. 
The  lower  we  go  in  the  scale  the  fewer  the  su- 
periors with  whose  instructions  the  employe 
comes  in  direct  contact.  The  trackman  knows 
authority  only  as  its  exercise  is  personified 
by  his  section  foreman  until  the  paymaster  tells 
him  to  wipe  off  his  feet  before  entering  to  re- 
ceive his  check.  Therefore,  put  out  a  slow  flag 
against  too  fast  running  over  such  low  joints 
as  "one  boss,"  "complete  responsibility/'  "di- 
vided authority,"  etc.,  etc.,  until  you  feel  cer- 
tain just  what  speed  they  will  stand. 
Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 
87 


LETTER  IX. 

STANDARDIZING  OFFICE  FILES. 

Chicago,  June  3,  1911. 
My  Dear  Boy : — It  has  doubtless  occurred  to 
you  how  worthless  as  evidence  are  many  of 
the  office  files.  How  can  any  one  tell  a  year 
afterward  whether  the  general  manager  or 
the  superintendent  ever  saw  the  telegram  on 
which  his  name  is  typewritten  ?  On  most  roads 
any  one  of  a  half  dozen  or  a  dozen  people  may 
have  dictated  the  message.  How  much  better, 
as  under  the  unit  system,  to  have  every  man 
doing  business  in  his  own  name !  He  can  then 
supplement  the  written  record  with  much  more 
intelligent  recollection  of  events  related  to  the 
transaction.  We  dictate  the  most  important 
telegrams,  which  pass  unquestioned,  without 
an  autograph  signature.  This  is  common  sense 
and  just  as  it  should  be.  When  an  unimport- 
ant letter  is  written  somebody  has  to  get  out 
a  pen  and  sign  some  name  or  other.  How  in- 
consistent !  Why  not,  for  certain  kinds  of  cor- 
respondence, let  the  stenographer  typewrite 


STANDARDIZING  OFFICE  FILES. 

the  name  of  the  dictating  or  signing  official, 
and  then  authenticate  with  the  office  dating 
stamp  or  a  private  seal  mark  ?  The  office  dat- 
ing stamp  should  be  kept  under  lock  and  key 
in  official  custody  in  order  that  it  may  be  used 
for  authentication,  like  the  seal  of  a  notary 
public.  To  save  the  labor  of  constant  signing 
I  predict  that  some  time  we  may  go  back  to 
individual  personal  seals  carried  on  a  finger 
ring  or  a  watch  fob.  That  is  the  way  they 
authenticated  documents  at  a  time  when  the 
gentry  felt  themselves  above  learning  to  read 
and  write. 

If  you  have  occasion  to  dictate  a  message 
over  the  telephone  from  your  house  at  mid- 
night, do  not  let  the  operator  imitate  your  auto- 
graph signature,  but  have  him  print  your  name 
with  a  pen,  pencil  or  typewriter.  Also,  take 
good  care  to  have  such  messages  sent  to  you 
afterward  for  you  to  check.  Your  time  is 
valuable,  but  it  cannot  be  put  to  better  use  for 
the  company  than  in  insuring  the  integrity  of 
your  individual  transactions.  It  may  be  that 
no  record  whatever  is  necessary.  With  all 
our  craze  for  accumulating  files  we  do  not 
record  many  telephone  conversations.  You 
must  be  the  judge  as  to  whether  a  record  for 
89 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

your  office  is  necessary,  and  in  such  exceptional 
cases  state  your  wishes  at  the  time.  The 
farther  down  the  employe  the  more  zealous  is 
he  to  escape  possible  censure  by  preserving  un- 
necessary information.  What  we  need  is  one 
complete  record  of  a  transaction  rather  than 
so  many  partial  records.  Many  of  the  tele- 
grams sent  from  a  superintendent's  office 
should,  after  sending,  go  to  the  main  file  room 
for  consolidation  with  related  papers  under  a 
subjective  classification.  It  is  more  logical  to 
file  certain  classes  of  messages  by  days  in  date 
order.  For  example,  messages  relating  to 
train  movements  should  usually  be  filed  in  date 
order  since  they  are  supplementary  to  the  train 
sheets  of  that  particular  day,  and  the  date 
would  be  the  determining  factor  in  tracing  the 
transaction  afterward.  These  two  distinct 
classes  of  messages  should  be  filed,  the  one 
under  a  subjective  classification,  the  other  under 
a  serial  classification.  The  good,  old-fash- 
ioned way  of  rolling  together  all  the  messages 
of  the  day  and  cording  them  in  a  pile  on  the 
top  shelf  was  all  right  in  the  day  of  wood- 
burners,  but  falls  short  in  this  day  of  higher 
pressures.  Remember,  too,  that  the  telegraph 
office  is  a  part  of  the  same  establishment. 
90 


STANDARDIZING  OFFICE  FILES. 

Wherefore,  make  a  carbon  copy  of  every  tele- 
gram that  is  going  down  the  hall  to  be  trans- 
mitted. 

If  you  wish  to  get  real  busy  and  cultivate 
patience,  try  to  introduce  a  uniform  filing  sys- 
tem in  all  the  offices  on  the  road.  Every  fel- 
low will  tell  you  that  the  system  in  his  office 
is  best.  The  acid  test  is:  "Will  your  system 
fit  the  president's  office?"  and  the  stereotyped 
reply  is,  "You  see  we  are  very  different.  Our 
local  conditions  are  peculiar."  So  it  falls  out 
that  when  the  agent  writes  his  superintendent 
about  office  furniture,  for  example,  the  agent, 
if  it  is  a  big  station,  gives  the  subject  a  file 
number.  The  superintendent  gives  it  a  second 
number.  If  perchance  the  general  superin- 
tendent, the  purchasing  agent,  the  general 
storekeeper,  the  general  manager,  and  the  pres- 
ident should  happen  to  get  hold  of  the  papers, 
each  office  would  affix  a  different  number. 
You  might  have  on  the  same  railroad  as  many 
as  seven  different  file  numbers  for  the  same 
subject.  Remember  that  all  filing  systems  are 
arbitrary.  Whether  you  designate  office  furni- 
ture as  seven,  eleven,  twenty-three,  or  forty- 
four,  it  rests  in  the  breast  of  somebody  to  say 
what  that  designation  shall  be.  It  is  like  num- 
91 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

bering  trains,  cars  and  locomotives,  we  take 
some  arbitrary  basis  from  which  we  build  up 
a  logical  classification.  Formerly,  trains,  cars 
and  locomotives  were  given  serial  numbers  in 
the  order  of  creation.  So  were  letters  in  an 
office.  Now  the  proposition  is  too  big  and  we 
assign  series  of  numbers  for  classifications 
which  are  more  or  less  self-suggesting.  Any 
number  of  men  have  tried  to  work  out  a  filing 
system  based  on  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com-' 
mission  classification  of  accounts.  Any  num- 
ber of  men  have  soon  encountered  limiting 
conditions  which  seem  to  preclude  a  satisfac- 
tory solution. 

If  you  had  time,  I  do  not  doubt  your  ability 
to  work  out  the  best  kind  of  a  filing  system, 
but  you  have  not  the  time.  If  you  had  lived 
before  George  Stephenson  you  might  have  in- 
vented the  locomotive,  but  George  beat  us  all 
to  it.  If  you  had  time  you  could  work  out  a 
table  of  logarithms,  or  a  table  of  trigonometric 
functions.  Life  is  so  short  that  it  is  better  to 
use  the  tables  that  other  people  have  prepared. 
By  the  same  token,  if  I  were  you,  I  would  save 
my  company  money  by  adopting  Williams' 
Railroad  Classification.  It  is  an  expansive,  but 
not  expensive,  decimal  system  suitable  for 
92 


STANDARDIZING  OFFICE  FILES. 

everybody  from  the  station  agent  to  the  presi- 
dent. Among  the  roads  that  have  taken  it  se- 
riously are  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio,  the  Delaware 
&  Hudson,  the  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Harri- 
man  Lines,  not  such  a  puny  lot.  Others  say 
of  it  as  of  the  unit  system  of  organization: 
"We  are  watching  its  development  with  much 
interest."  In  either  case,  if  the  stockholders 
and  directors  are  complacent,  you  and  I  have 
no  kick  coming  as  to  the  number  of  years  over 
which  this  inactive  watchfulness  may  extend. 

The  manifest  advantages  of  a  uniform 
filing  classification  are  the  time  saved  in 
avoiding  duplication  of  numbers,  and  the 
practical  familiarity  possible  to  officials  and 
employes  of  all  grades  and  locations. 
When  a  man  is  promoted  or  transferred, 
he  does  not  have  to  learn  a  new  fil- 
ing system.  Instead  of  the  whole  burden 
of  filing  being  upon  a  file  clerk,  everybody  can 
be  helping  to  preserve  the  integrity  and  insure 
the  efficiency  of  the  system.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  sit  up  nights  and  memorize  filing  num- 
bers. Take  the  matter  seriously,  and  in  a  short 
time  you  will  unconsciously  absorb  the  most 
important  numbers,  just  as  you  get  trains,  cars, 
and  locomotives  in  your  head.  Officials  fre- 
93 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

quently  have  a  disproportionate  and  exagger- 
ated sense  of  the  value  of  their  own  time.  They 
are  paid  to  think  from  their  presumably  wider 
understanding.  If  the  official  by  one  minute's 
thought  can  dictate  the  file  number  and  later 
on  save  several  hours  of  search  in  the  file  room, 
it  is  his  duty  to  do  so.  All  over  the  country 
file  clerks  tell  me  their  troubles.  The  burden 
is,  "If  you  will  get  the  officials  to  respect  the 
files  as  much  as  we  respect  the  officials,  it  will 
all  be  easy."  You  know,  my  boy,  that  there 
are  a  whole  lot  of  things  that  deserve  to  be 
taken  just  as  seriously  as  we  take  ourselves. 
Consider  this  standard  code  of  train  rules 
again.  With  all  its  defects  and  shortcomings 
it  is  a  vital  force.  Because  it  is  standard  it 
gains  a  respect  as  a  result  of  lifelong  drill  and 
discipline  of  employes,  regardless  of  changes 
in  location  or  assignment.  Therefore,  stand- 
ardize your  files,  and  interest  your  officials. 
Rank  imposes  obligation,  or  noblesse  oblige,  as 
the  French  say. 

It  is  a  much  easier  matter  to  start  a  new 
filing  system  than  is  generally  supposed.  Just 
begin.  It  is  not  necessary  to  renumber  the  old 
files.  Give  new  numbers  to  all  the  old  stuff 
that  comes  in,  and  in  a  month  or  two  you  will 
94 


STANDARDIZING  OFFICE  FILES. 

probably  absorb  nearly  all  that  is  of  current 
interest.  Then  store  the  remainder  of  the  old 
stuff  as  a  dead  file  under  the  old  system.  Most 
of  the  old  you  will  never  need,  but  if  you  do, 
as  occasion  arises,  locate  under  the  old  system 
and  transfer  to  the  new. 

If  you  are  putting  up  a  new  office  building 
or  re-arranging  an  old  one,  try  and  locate  the 
main  file  room  next  to  the  telegraph  office.  Or 
put  one  over  the  other  so  that  quick  communi- 
cation can  be  made  by  some  such  device  as  a 
chute,  dumb  waiter,  or  pneumatic  tube.  Tele- 
grams received  can  then  be  hurried  to  the  file 
room  and  related  papers  attached,  when  desir- 
able, without  taking  the  valuable  time  of  an 
official  to  send  to  the  file  room  for  them.  Here 
is  a  place  for  a  really  rational  conservation  of 
official  time.  The  effect  of  effort  should  be 
in  proportion  to  its  intelligence  and  intensity 
rather  than  to  its  amount. 

Experts  long  ago  established  the  fact  by 
time  studies,  and  otherwise,  that  flat,  vertical 
filing  cases  are  the  most  efficient  and  economi- 
cal. There  are  a  number  of  satisfactory  makes 
on  the  market.  Like  selecting  a  typewriter,  it 
is  largely  a  matter  of  personal  preferment. 
The  way  to  beat  another  man  at  his  own  game 
95 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

is  first  to  sit  in,  play  and  learn.  Gamblers 
would  become  extinct  if  all  men  lived  up  to  this 
advice.  Most  railway  officials  regard  organiza- 
tion as  an  exception  to  this  precept  because,  as 
I  said  before,  nearly  every  man  flatters  him- 
self that  he  is  a  born  organizer.  Before  you 
raise  the  stakes  too  high  in  trying  to  beat  an- 
other man's  game  of  organization,  better  first 
sit  in  and  play  it  his  way. 

Do  not  be  afraid  to  trust  outlying  offices, 
like  those  of  your  superintendents,  to  run  their 
own  files.  Have  them  inspected  as  often  as 
may  be  necessary  to  insure  uniformity  and  ef- 
ficiency. Do  not  forbid  their  adding  numbers 
as  emergencies  arise.  Assemble  these  new  sub- 
jects periodically,  say  once  in  six  months,  for 
standardization,  and  amplify  the  working  num- 
bers if  necessary.  You  must  allow  for  differ- 
ences in  the  human  equation.  Some  men  are 
strict  constructionists,  and  some  are  broader. 
Some  men  classify  under  a  few  subjects,  while 
others  subdivide  to  a  greater  degree.  You 
know  the  old  story  of  the  man  who  was  index- 
ing and  feared  that  something  might  be  over- 
looked. So  under  the  caption,  "God,"  he  put 
the  cross  reference,  "See  Almighty  God." 
Without  a  retrospective  study  of  actual  per- 
96 


STANDARDIZING  OFFICE  FILES. 

formance  you  cannot  well  say  just  how  many 
sub-numbers  shall  be  used  in  a  given  office,  any 
more  than  you  can  determine  in  advance  how 
many  train  orders  a  certain  dispatcher  should 
put  out  under  the  standard  code.  Among  the 
advantages  of  using  a  card  index  for  running 
a  file  is  that  by  counting  the  live  cards  we 
know  the  number  of  subjects  in  actual  use. 
This  is  not  inconsistent  with  book  numbers,  the 
book  then  being  used  as  a  reference  encyclo- 
pedia from  which  subjects  are  entered  on  cards 
as  fast  as  each  necessity  arises. 

Remember  that  while  immutable  principles 
must  eventually  triumph  over  local  conditions, 
much  depends  upon  considerate  application. 
The  local  condition  didn't  just  happen,  but  had 
its  origin  in  some  reason,  good  or  bad,  per- 
haps once  convincing  but  now  outgrown. 
Sometimes  the  reason  is  so  vital  as  to  be  a 
principle  in  itself.  In  our  beloved  Southland 
there  are  local  conditions  of  society  which  do 
not  obtain  elsewhere  in  this  country.  True 
Southerners  thank  God  that  human  slavery 
has  been  abolished.  They  are  striving  earn- 
estly and  successfully  to  adjust  conditions 
created  in  the  birth  pangs  of  a  social  revolu- 
tion. Well  managed  railroads  like  the  Louis- 
97 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

ville  &  Nashville  adjust  their  working  policies 
to  these  basic  conditions.  Nearly  a  decade  ago 
Samuel  Spencer,  as  president,  felt  that  the 
Southern  Railway  needed  an  infusion  of  new 
operating  blood  and  a  rotation  of  types,  both 
excellent  things  in  themselves,  but,  as  experi- 
ence showed,  easily  overdone  and  carried  to  an 
irrational  degree.  With  native  talent  at  hand 
for  the  developing  he  imported  to  the  proud 
old  civilization  of  his  birth  some  rough  and 
ready  brethren  of  the  western  prairies.  These 
earnest  men  and  their  followers  knew  how 
better  than  they  knew  why.  They  were  long 
on  art,  but  short  on  science.  Demoralization 
and  wrecks,  attributed  to  inadequate  facilities, 
cost  the  road  much  public  confidence,  cost  the 
stockholders  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars, 
and  finally,  in  an  awful  tragedy,  cost  the  able 
president  his  useful  and  honored  life.  Fate  ac- 
corded to  outraged  sociology  and  her  smaller 
sister,  organization,  terrible  and  undeserved 
retribution.  For,  barring  this  one  mistaken 
policy,  Samuel  Spencer  was  an  earnest  patriot 
and  a  constructive  railway  statesman.  As  a 
youth  he  served  in  the  Confederate  army. 
Through  life  devotion  to  his  flag  was  a  pas- 
sion. As  a  man  and  a  gentleman  his  character 


STANDARDIZING  OFFICE  FILES. 

was  unblemished,  his  integrity  was  stainless. 
Peace  to  his  ashes.  Success  to  the  Southern. 
Its  great  traffic  strength,  actual  and  potential, 
rests  on  the  broad  foundations  laid  by  Samuel 
Spencer.  Prosperity  to  the  railroads.  By  con- 
stant search  for  the  lessons  of  human  efficiency 
to  be  drawn  from  such  experiences  as  these, 
they  prove  their  broad  claim  to  scientific  man- 
agement. 

Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 


99 


LETTER  X. 

THE   LINE   AND  THE  STAFF. 

Chicago,  June  10,  1911. 

My  Dear  Boy: — You  have  asked  me  to  tell 
you  something  about  line  and  staff.  The  term 
line  is  used  to  indicate  the  direct  sequence  to- 
ward the  active  purpose  of  the  organization. 
The  line  officer  exercises  a  direct  authority 
over  men  and  things.  He  is  the  incarnation 
of  administrative  action.  The  staff  is  supple- 
mentary to  the  line  as  equity  is  supplementary 
to  law.  The  staff  officer  is  the  playwright. 
The  line  officer  is  the  actor.  The  actor  is  usu- 
ally too  much  absorbed  with  the  technique  of 
his  art  to  write  new  plays.  The  line  officer,  as 
such,  seldom  originates  new  methods,  because 
he  is  too  close  to  his  everyday  problems  of  ad- 
ministration to  cultivate  perspective.  The  ideal 
staff  officer  has  had  experience  in  the  line. 

The  line  with  a  railroad — its  fighting  force, 
so  to  speak — is  the  operating  department.  Be- 
cause they  are  staff  departments  the  offices  of 
100 


THE  LINE  AND  THE  STAFF. 

the  other  three,  namely,  accounting,  traffic,  and 
executive,  legal  and  financial,  can  close  from 
Saturday  noon  until  Monday  morning.  The 
operating  department,  being  the  line,  keeps  the 
road  open  and  the  trains  moving.  Because  of 
the  poverty  of  our  language,  we  now  encounter 
some  difficulties  of  expression  in  explaining  all 
the  various  ramifications  of  line  and  staff.  A 
staff  department,  because  of  its  size,  may  exer- 
cise line  functions  within  its  own  interior  ad- 
ministration. Thus,  the  auditor  organizes  his 
office  forces  under  appropriate  chief  and  subor- 
dinate officers  who,  within  the  accounting  de- 
partment itself,  exercise  the  authority  of  line 
officers.  When  such  accounting  officers  get 
outside  their  legitimate  sphere  and  endeavor  to 
act  as  line  officers  in  the  operating  department, 
expensive  friction  begins.  This  feature  I  shall 
discuss  with  you  later.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
at  present  the  hardest  of  all  problems  is  to 
keep  line  and  staff  in  economical  balance.  Staff 
departments  then  may  within  themselves  exer- 
cise line  functions.  This  grows  rather  from 
necessities  imposed  by  size  than  from  inherent 
nature  of  function.  The  first  staff  officer  was 
an  adviser  and  exercised  no  authority,  except 
that  of  polite  inquiry,  because  there  was  no  one 

101 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

whom  he  could  properly  command.  So  the 
line,  the  operating  department,  soon  grows  so 
big  as  to  require  staff  officers  within  itself, 
people  who  have  time  to  think  out  improve- 
ments because  they  are  not  burdened  with  ad- 
ministrative responsibilities. 

Hold  tightly  to  this  thought,  my  boy.  The 
plane  of  differentiation  between  line  and  staff 
usually  follows  a  cleavage  based  upon  size 
rather  than  upon  relative  importance  of  func- 
tion. The  first  line  officer  needed  no  staff, 
because  he  had  time  to  think  as  well  as  act 
for  himself.  The  first  superintendent  looked 
after  the  repairmen  himself.  The  first  master 
mechanic  came  into  being  not  because  he  was 
so  different  from  everybody  else,  but  because 
the  superintendent  had  become  too  busy  to  do 
it  all  himself.  By  and  by  the  master  mechanic 
forgot  this  basic  fact  and,  unconsciously  exag- 
gerating his  own  specialty,  began  to  feel  that 
the  railway  is  incident  to  shops  and  equipment 
rather  than  shops  and  equipment  incident  to 
the  railway.  The  last  five  years  have  witnessed 
a  decided  improvement  in  this  undesirable  con- 
dition. Just  at  present  the  store  department 
Indians  are  the  tribe  most  in  need  of  being 
rounded  up  on  the  operating  department  res- 

102 


THE  LINE  AND  THE  STAFF. 

ervation  for  eye  wash  and  vaccination  against 
distorted  perspective. 

The  operating  department  of  a  railroad  is, 
or  should  be,  a  real  department,  complete  and 
self-contained.  It  consists  of  such  important 
component  elements  or  branches  as  mainte- 
nance of  way  and  structures,  maintenance  of 
equipment,  transportation,  telegraph,  signals, 
stores,  purchases,  dining  cars,  etc.  Let  us  not 
waste  any  time  discussing  the  relative  import- 
ance of  these  components.  ^Esop  centuries  ago 
did  that  better  than  we  can.  His  fable  of  the 
quarrel  among  the  organs  of  the  human  body 
teaches  us  that  while  all  are  important  each  is 
useless  without  the  others. 

Individually  the  general  superintendent,  the 
chief  engineers,  the  superintendent  of  motive 
power,  the  superintendent  of  transportation, 
the  superintendent  of  telegraph,  the  general 
storekeeper,  and  the  superintendent  of  dining 
cars,  are  line  officers  exercising  direct  author- 
ity in  a  defined  sequence.  Collectively  they 
constitute,  for  consultation,  the  general  man- 
ager's staff.  When  all  have  the  rank  and  title 
of  assistant  general  manager,  this  duality  of 
function  is  the  more  pronounced  and  valuable. 
For  the  feudal  notion  of  unbalanced  compo- 
103 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

nents  is  substituted  the  cabinet  idea  of  compre- 
hensive deliberation,  unified  administration  and 
devotion  to  a  common  purpose.  (Anvil  cho- 
rus: "It's  that  way  on  our  road  now/')  Per- 
haps so,  but  if  so,  what  assurance  have  your 
stockholders  and  the  public  that  the  same  happy 
condition  will  obtain  ten  years  hence?  Each 
head  of  the  nine  executive  departments  in 
Washington  is  a  line  officer  running  his  own 
department.  At  the  President's  cabinet  table 
he  becomes  a  staff  officer  deliberating  upon  the 
problems  of  all.  The  attorney-general  should 
be  called  secretary  of  law,  and  the  postmaster- 
general  secretary  of  posts.  Then  all  nine 
would  have  the  uniform  title  of  secretary.  The 
position  of  secretary  to  the  president,  an  assist- 
ant to  proposition,  should  be  abolished — usu- 
ally I  prefer  the  gentler  expression,  "title  dis- 
continued." His  duties  should  be  performed 
by  the  secretary  of  state,  who  is  always  the 
ranking  member  of  the  cabinet.  In  the  first 
cabinet,  that  of  George  Washington,  the  sec- 
retary of  state,  Thomas  Jefferson,  was  in  ef- 
fect, though  not  in  name,  prime  minister  and 
chief  of  staff.  Foreign  affairs,  then  an  inci- 
dental feature,  are  now  so  extensive  for  a 
world  power  that  we  should  have  another  de- 
104 


THE  LINE  AND  THE  STAFF. 

partment  under  a  secretary  of  foreign  affairs, 
leaving  the  secretary  of  state  as  senior  to  be 
the  able  righthand  man  of  the  president.  Here 
again  the  size  of  the  proposition,  the  volume 
of  business,  is  the  proper  determining  factor. 

On  a  small  railway  the  chief  engineer  as 
a  line  officer  may  be  able  to  do  all  the  engineer- 
ing himself.  As  the  business  grows  he  re- 
quires such  special  staff  advisers  as  an  office 
engineer,  a  locating  engineer,  a  bridge  engi- 
neer, a  tunnel  engineer,  a  signal  engineer,  etc. 
Some  roads  make  such  engineers  line  officers 
by  giving  them  extensive  authority  over  work- 
ing forces.  Usually  I  believe  this  is  a  mis- 
take. It  seems  better  for  these  engineers  to  be 
real  staff  officers,  thinking,  inspecting,  warn- 
ing, instructing  (in  the  sense  of  lecturing), 
improving,  designing  and  perhaps  sometimes 
installing,  but  never  directly  operating  or  main- 
taining. The  same  general  reasoning  applies  to 
the  mechanical  bureau  when  the  business  of 
the  chief  mechanical  officer  attains  a  volume 
necessitating  the  help  of  such  valuable  staff  of- 
ficers as  a  mechanical  engineer,  an  electrical 
engineer,  a  testing  engineer,  etc. 

When  the  telegraph  came  to  supplement  the 
railway,  men  stood  in  awe  of  its  invisible  ef- 
105 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

fects.  Soon  the  telegraph  man  said  in  effect, 
"This  is  a  wonderful  and  mysterious  specialty 
which  you  fellows  cannot  understand.  Let 
me,  the  expert,  handle  it  for  you."  So  he  seg- 
regated unto  himself  a  so-called  department  on 
the  plea  that  it  is  so  different.  By  and  by  the 
division  superintendents  woke  up  to  find  their 
telegraph  hands  tied.  Appeals  to  the  general 
superintendent  or  general  manager  proved 
fruitless.  So  the  division  linemen  usually  re- 
port directly  to  the  superintendent  of  tele- 
graph. They  often  stay  around  division  head- 
quarters until  the  chief  dispatcher  is  able  to 
jar  them  loose  and  get  them  out  on  the  road. 
Then  they  go  to  the  scene  of  trouble,  look 
wise  and  get  the  section  foreman  to  dig  the 
hole  and  do  most  of  the  work.  Why  not, 
therefore,  hold  the  section  foreman  responsible 
for  ordinary  wire  repairs  in  the  first  place? 
Let  every  section  house  have  a  pair  of  climbers, 
a  wire  cutter  and  pliers  with  whatever  simple 
outfit  may  be  necessary.  If  unusual  troubles 
develop  or  a  line  is  to  be  rebuilt  send  the  most 
expert  help  available,  but  while  on  the  division 
let  such  help  be  under  the  authority  of  the 
superintendent.  We  need  an  expert  at  the  top 
as  chief  telegraph  and  telephone  officer  to  tell 
106 


THE  LINE  AND  THE  STAFF. 

us  all  how  to  do  it.  The  volume  of  business 
will  usually  warrant  making  him  a  line  officer 
with  the  rank  and  title  of  assistant  general 
manager.  He  should  not  deal  directly  with 
operators  and  linemen  any  more  than  a  gen- 
eral superintendent  under  normal  conditions 
should  instruct  an  individual  conductor  or  a 
chief  engineer  communicate  direct  with  a  sec- 
tion foreman.  The  integrity  of  the  division 
as  an  operating  unit  should  be  respected. 

By  and  by  the  signals  followed  the  tele- 
graph. Once  more  the  management  allowed 
the  specialist  to  put  it  over  at  the  expense  of 
the  good  old  wheel  horses  in  the  regular  line 
organization.  The  embryo  signal  engineer 
said,  "This  wonderful  and  mysterious  develop- 
ment is  really  something  different  this  time. 
It  is  absurd  to  suppose  these  stupid  old  section 
foremen  can  learn  anything  about  electricity." 
So  the  signal  engineer  was  allowed  to  build 
up  a  new  department.  He  went  out  on  the 
ranches  or  in  the  barber  shops  and  hired  signal 
maintainers.  A  new  department  is  liberally 
treated  because  its  activities  are  a  fad  for  the 
time  being.  These  signal  maintainers  in  a 
few  months  absorb  so  much  magnetism  from 
the  field  of  the  signal  engineer  that  they  are 
107 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

qualified  experts  to  whom  the  rest  of  us  must 
not  say  anything.  They  have  easier  work,  if 
not  -better  pay,  than  the  faithful  section  fore- 
men of  perhaps  twenty  years'  service.  The 
old  section  foreman  has  a  "savey"  of  the  rail- 
road business,  an  intuitive  knowledge  of  the 
requirements  of  train  movement  that  it  will 
take  the  fresh  young  maintainer  years  to  ac- 
quire. Then  we  wonder  why  it  is  so  difficult 
to  secure  loyal  section  foremen.  Sometimes  a 
belated  effort  has  been  made  to  let  in  the  sec- 
tion foremen  on  the  signal  game.  It  is  diffi- 
cult, however,  to  get  the  signal  people  to  take 
an  appreciative  and  sympathetic  interest  in 
men  who  are  not  in  "my  department."  There- 
fore, to  prevent  your  track  forces  being  thrown 
out  of  balance  it  will  be  better  for  a  few  years 
to  keep  the  signal  engineer  on  most  railways 
as  a  staff  officer  without  permitting  him  a  line 
organization  for  operation  and  maintenance. 
Say  to  your  roadmasters  and  section  foremen 
that  they  will,  at  the  company's  expense,  be 
given  instruction  in  signals.  When  the  signal 
engineer,  the  expert,  pronounces  them  quali- 
fied by  examination  or  otherwise,  let  them 
understand  that  there  is  a  small  automatic  in- 
crease in  pay.  Transfer  to  branch  lines  the 
108 


THE  LINE  AND  THE  STAFF. 

few  who  prove  hopelessly  deficient.  The  track 
laborer  who  can  qualify  to  look  after  a  par- 
ticular signal  is  worth  a  few  cents  more  a  day 
to  the  company  and  should  be  so  advised.  If 
you  start  with  the  presumption  that  the  man 
below  is  too  dumb  to  learn  you  handicap  him 
and  probably  doom  him  to  failure.  If  you 
make  him  believe  that  he  can  learn  what  men 
of  the  same  class  around  him  are  learning,  that 
you,  his  elder  brother,  are  in  duty  bound  to 
help  him,  you  will  be  astonished  at  the  re- 
sponse of  his  latent  intelligence.  The  great 
managers  of  the  feudal  period  were  forceful 
drivers.  The  great  managers  of  to-day  and  to- 
morrow are  great  teachers,  the  greatest  of  all 
experts,  because  they  show  the  man  below  how 
to  do  it.  Lots  of  men  know  how.  A  good 
many  know  why.  Comparatively  few  have 
that  rare  and  valuable  combination  of  know- 
ing both  how  and  why.  It  is  not  a  happen  so, 
but  a  response  to  the  law  of  supply  and  de- 
mand, that  men  of  the  Woodrow  Wilson  type 
are  coming  to  the  front  in  our  political  life. 

Getting  back  to  signals.    On  a  road  of  more 

than  one  or  two  tracks,  it  may  be  advisable  to 

segregate  your  signals  from  your  track.    Here 

again  the  dividing  line  is  volume  of  business 

109 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

rather  than  fancied  importance  of  function. 
Signals  are  important,  but  so  is  the  track. 
Each  is  an  incidental  component  of  railway 
operation,  not  the  whole  operation  itself.  On 
most  railways  the  section  foreman  should  be 
the  responsible  head  of  a  complete  sub-unit 
for  everyday  maintenance  and  inspection,  in- 
cluding track,  bridges,  fences,  poles,  wires  and 
signals.  This  may  involve  giving  him  more 
help  or  a  shorter  section. 

One  of  the  problems  of  line  and  staff  is  to 
determine  what  is  intelligent  rotation  between 
the  two.  The  line  officer,  dealing  with  men 
rather  than  ideas,  may  get  into  a  rut  of  prac- 
tice which  prevents  his  seeing  the  beauty  of 
the  rainbow  which  the  untrammeled  staff  of- 
ficer may  be  tempted  to  chase  too  far.  Some 
officers  succeed  brilliantly  at  originating  or  de- 
veloping ideas  in  the  staff  and  fail  miserably 
at  handling  men  in  the  line. 

True  individuality  about  which  men  prate 
the  most  is  that  which  is  understood  the  least. 
Our  Army  and  Navy  are  insisting  that  before 
being  staff  officers,  all  officers,  except  surgeons 
and  chaplains,  must  first  learn  to  handle  men 
by  serving  in  the  line;  that  crystallization  in 
the  staff  must  be  prevented  by  periodic  rota- 
no 


THE  LINE  AND  THE  STAFF. 

tion  to  definite  tours  of  duty  in  the  line.  The 
railway  of  the  future  will  probably  carry  extra 
numbers  of  line  officials  in  the  various  grades 
that  some  may  be  available  for  detail  to  the 
staff,  that  we  may  better  co-ordinate  our  study- 
ing and  our  working  activities. 

People  say  that  our  good  friend,  Harrington 
Emerson,  able  and  sincere,  will  unconsciously 
give  the  staff  the  best  of  it;  while  your  old  dad, 
on  an  even  break,  will  be  found  on  the  side  of 
the  line.  If  they  are  correct,  it  leaves  plenty 
of  room  for  the  other  fellows  in  between.  One 
of  the  delightful  foibles  that  make  human  na- 
ture so  interesting  and  so  lovable  is  the  inborn 
conviction  of  the  average  man  that,  "though  H 
be  a  conservative  and  K  a  radical,  I  am  always 
the  happy  medium." 

Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 


in 


LETTER  XL 

THE   PROBLEM   OF   THE   GET-RICH-QUICK 
CONDUCTOR. 

Chicago,  June  17,  1911. 
My  Dear  Boy: — Not  so  very  long  ago  the 
wife  of  a  passenger  conductor,  running  out 
of  a  large  southern  city,  sought  the  assistance 
of  her  pastor,  a  noted  divine.  She  was  wor- 
ried by  the  fact  that  her  husband  was  stealing 
the  company's  money.  With  a  good  woman's 
intuition  she  knew  that  the  wages  of  sin  is 
death ;  that  sooner  or  later  her  husband  would 
lose  his  job  and  his  family  its  legitimate  in- 
come. To  her  good,  old-fashioned,  unspecial- 
ized  conscience  stealing  is  stealing,  whether 
called  "embezzlement,"  "holding  out,"  or 
"trouble  with  the  auditor."  The  fearless 
evangelist  shortly  afterward  preached  a  power- 
ful sermon  against  stealing,  and  included  pas- 
senger conductors  in  his  warnings.  So  in- 
censed was  the  conductor  in  question  that  he 
announced  his  intention  of  disregarding  the 
protection  carried  by  the  clerical  cloth  and  of 
knocking  the  minister  down.  When  the  two 
112 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CONDUCTORS. 

met  his  bluff  was  called.  The  conductor,  not 
the  minister,  came  to  his  knees,  not  in  fighting, 
but  in  prayer. 

Here,  my  boy,  is  a  canker  sore  that  must  be 
cured.  Do  not  tell  me  that  the  Order  of  Rail- 
way Conductors  is  alone  to  blame.  Do  not  tell 
me  that  in  the  lodge  room  the  order  side-tracks 
the  eighth  commandment  for  the  working 
schedule.  Do  not  tell  me  that  the  order  will 
expel  a  member  for  any  other  offense  rather 
than  for  stealing.  Do  not  tell  me  that  our 
problem  is  harder  and  our  revenue  less  be- 
cause Ed.  Clark,  the  grand  chief  of  an  order 
thus  lawless,  was  appointed  by  Teddy  Roose- 
velt to  sit  in  judgment  on  us  from  the  high 
throne  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion. Tell  me,  rather,  that  we,  the  official  class, 
are  to  blame;  that  we  must  cease  to  dodge  re- 
sponsibility. We,  the  educated  and  entrepre- 
neur class;  we,  the  elder  brothers  of  society 
and  industry,  cannot  shift  the  burden. 

Please  do  not  misunderstand  me.  There  are 
many  honest  passenger  conductors.  I  have 
known  them  on  the  road  and  in  their  homes. 
Some  there  are  who  deserve  the  more  credit 
for  withstanding  temptation  because  of  sick- 
ness or  extravagance  in  the  family.  There 
"3 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

are,  however,  too  many  dishonest  passenger 
conductors.  It  is  not  enough  for  a  man  to  be 
honest  himself.  The  complexities  of  modern 
life  make  him  more  than  ever  his  brother's 
keeper.  He  must  not  only  stand  for  the  right 
but  condemn  the  wrong.  The  Order  of  Rail- 
way Conductors  must  make  the  American  peo- 
ple believe  that  it  is  a  great  moral  force  for 
honesty  in  all  things.  We,  the  officials,  must 
help  the  conductors  to  bring  about  this  happy 
result. 

The  clerk  for  the  corner  grocer  will  not  steal 
from  his  employer  as  quickly  as  he  will  from 
a  large  corporation.  The  existence  of  a  per- 
sonal employer  brings  home  the  moral  turpi- 
tude by  visualizing  the  individual  wrong  com- 
mitted. Coupled  with  this  higher  moral. incen- 
tive is  the  fear  of  detection  through  close  per- 
sonal supervision  and  interest.  In  a  large  cor- 
poration we  have  to  approximate  to  this  con- 
dition. The  corporation,  an  impersonal  crea- 
tion, is  vitalized  by  the  men  charged  with  re- 
sponsibilities. The  problem  of  organization  is 
to  give  maximum  effectiveness  to  this  vitaliza- 
tion,  to  utilize  to  the  fullest  degree  the  per- 
sonal equations  of  those  entrusted  with  author- 
ity. Many  railroads  have  lost  control  of  their 
114 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CONDUCTORS. 

passenger  conductors  because  of  a  fundamen- 
tal misconception  of  the  principles  of  true  or- 
ganization. 

On  the  early  railways  the  superintendent 
was  the  only  officer  the  conductor  officially 
knew.  The  superintendent,  close  to  the  presi- 
dent, was  interested  in  the  revenue  as  well  as 
the  disbursement  side  of  the  company's  ledger. 
If  the  conductor  stole,  if  the  returns  were  short 
on  a  day  of  heavy  travel,  the  superintendent 
was  among  the  first  to  know  it,  and  to  preserve 
his  own  reputation,  and  thereby  hold  his  own 
job,  promptly  discharged  the  conductor.  By 
and  by  some  conductors  graduated  into  super- 
intendents. This  new  condition  brought  a  new 
temptation.  The  conductor,  if  allowed  to  keep 
on  stealing,  and  if  favored  with  a  run  where 
the  stealing  was  especially  good,  could  well  af- 
ford to  whack  up  secretly  with  the  superin- 
tendent. A  few,  a  very  few,  superintendents 
yielded  to  this  temptation.  Along  came  the 
auditor  with  his  mistaken  theory  that  human 
nature  can  be  changed  and  men  made  more 
honest  by  being  put  in  "my  department."  He 
said,  in  effect,  "Take  this  away  from  the  super- 
intendent, who  is  dishonest  and  busy  with  other 
things ;  let  this  mysterious  specialty  of  conduc- 
"5 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

tors'  collections  be  handled  by  the  only  honest 
department."  So  the  superintendent  was  re- 
lieved from  responsibility  for  making  his.  con- 
ductors render  honest  returns.  He  soon  lost 
interest  in  that  feature.  The  roads  grew,  and 
superimposed  above  the  superintendent  came 
first  the  general  superintendent,  and  then  the 
general  manager,  both  also  relieved  from  this 
responsibility  to  which  the  auditor  clung  with 
jealous  tenacity.  The  conductor  probably 
could  not  have  told  what  principles  of  organi- 
zation had  been  violated.  He  was  the  first  to 
see  the  easier  mark  the  company  had  become, 
the  first  to  profit  by  the  serious  mistake  that 
had  been  made.  He  found  that  his  reports 
were  checked  by  office  clerks  hundreds  of  miles 
away  and  entirely  uninformed  as  to  current 
conditions  of  local  travel.  The  superintendent 
and  the  other  division  officials  who  rode  with 
him  and  knew  conditions  were  powerless  to 
check  him  promptly  and  effectively  because  his 
reports  and  returns  were  going  to  somebody 
else  over  the  hills  and  far  away.  These  offi- 
cials, because  somebody  else  was  responsible, 
did  not  seem  to  care  very  much.  So  the  con- 
ductor stole  under  their  very  eyes  and  got 
away  with  it.  Anything  like  this  which  begets 
116 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CONDUCTORS. 

a  wholesale  contempt  for  duly  constituted  au- 
thority is  demoralizing  to  general  discipline. 
The  labor  unions  are  not  alone  to  blame  for 
the  spread  of  insubordination. 

All  men  are  students  of  practical  psychol- 
ogy, whether  conscious  of  the  fact  or  not.  The 
conductor  found  that  to  hold  his  job  he  must 
do  well  those  things  for  which  the  superintend- 
ent and  the  division  officials  were  responsible. 
So  the  bigger  thief  the  conductor  became  the 
more  careful  was  he  about  other  duties.  •  He 
was  a  crank  on  train  rules,  perhaps,  or  made 
courtesy  to  the  public  his  watchword.  All  of 
this  stood  him  well  in  hand.  Sooner  or  later 
the  spotter  caught  him  and  the  auditor  re- 
quested the  general  manager  to  order  his  dis- 
charge. When  this  got  down  to  the  superin- 
tendent or  the  trainmaster  the  conductor  was 
called  in.  Instead  of  being  berated  for  a  thief, 
if  he  acknowledged  the  corn,  the  conductor 
was  discharged,  half  sympathetically,  half 
apologetically.  The  division  official  would 
have  resented  the  imputation  of  harboring  or 
encouraging  a  thief.  To  him  the  conductor 
was  an  efficient,  faithful  employe,  meeting  all 
requirements  of  service.  If  the  conductor 
failed  to  please  somebody  else  it  really  must 
117 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

be  the  fault  of  that  somebody  or  the  system. 
This  feeling  was  not  unnatural,  since  the  detec- 
tion came  through  a  discredited  channel,  the 
spotter.  Rare  are  the  circumstances  where 
secret  service  should  be  necessary.  There  is 
something  inherently  wrong  in  any  system 
which  has  to  gain  routine  information  by  indi- 
rect methods.  The  detective  should  not  be  nec- 
essary for  checking  the  good  and  the  bad  alike, 
but  only  for  following  up  those  who  become 
manifestly  bad  or  notoriously  corrupt.  The 
most  efficient  system  is  that  where  open  check- 
ing and  inspection  are  so  thorough  that  temp- 
tation is  diminished  by  the  ever-present 
thought  of  prompt  and  sure  detection.  This 
desirable  condition  cannot  obtain  where  the 
system  makes  such  important  officers  as  the 
superintendent  and  the  trainmaster  unconscious 
attorneys  for  the  defense,  sometimes  openly 
advocating  reinstatement  of  a  thief.  On  the 
contrary,  from  its  impersonal  nature,  a  corpor- 
ation must  be  so  administered  as  to  gain  the 
moral  effect  of  every  available  force  for  right, 
to  secure  the  help,  however  small,  of  every 
person  connected  with  the  administration. 
Views  of  composite  efficiency  must  converge 
at  a  point  sufficiently  near  to  be  of  practical 
118 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CONDUCTORS. 

value,  not  so  remote  as  to  be  of  only  theoreti- 
cal interest.  No  system  is  perfect.  Under 
any  conditions  the  very  size  of  a  railway  neces- 
sitates a  trifling  allowance  for  peculation  which 
creeps  in.  This  can,  however,  be  reduced  to 
a  negligible  quantity. 

So  completely  has  the  old  system  broken 
down  on  most  railways — there  are  a  few  ex- 
ceptions— that  it  has  become  a  farce.  It  is 
a  sad  commentary  on  organization  that  many 
roads  are  giving  the  passenger  conductor  up 
as  a  bad  job  and  putting  on  expensive  train 
auditors  who  usually  are  really  not  auditors, 
but  collectors.  They  are  called  auditors  prob- 
ably because  they  are  under  the  auditor.  It  is 
a  principle  of  organization  that  the  staff  as 
such  should  never  command  the  line.  The  staff 
reviews,  inspects,  audits,  studies,  advises,  sug- 
gests and,  perhaps,  promulgates,  but  should 
never  execute,  except  as  a  representative  of  the 
line,  the  latter  being  responsible  for  the  results 
of  operation  whatever  the  operation  may  hap- 
pen to  be.  The  accounting  department  is  a  staff 
department.  When  it  was  given  charge  of  a 
line  function,  fare  collection,  a  principle  was 
violated.  Ultimate  failure  of  the  system  was 
therefore  certain  and  inevitable.  The  train 
119 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

auditor  proposition  fails  to  recognize  this 
underlying  cause.  It  further  violates  principle, 
intensifies  the  evil  and  wastes  more  money  by 
increasing  the  number  of  staff  men  doing  line 
work.  Its  direct  effects  are  vicious  and  its  in- 
direct effects  are  demoralizing  to  discipline. 
How  can  the  young  flagman  have  due  respect 
for  his  superintendent  or  other  official  when 
he  sees  the  train  auditor  come  to  the  rear  plat- 
form and  demand  to  see  the  pass  of  the  offi- 
cial ?  If  he  is  an  old  flagman  it  is  a  little  hard 
for  him  to  see  why  he  himself  or  his  friend, 
the  old  station  agent,  might  not  have  been 
given  this  new  job  with  its  fine  pay.  Like  his 
superintendent  the  flagman  may  have  been  in 
the  service  twenty  or  thirty  years.  The  train 
auditor,  only  last  week  a  country  hotel  clerk, 
mayhap,  flashes  on  them  both  as  a  would-be 
superior  being  from  a  better  world.  Neither 
of  the  two  can  become  very  enthusiastic  in 
helping  the  train  auditor  to  protect  the  com- 
pany's revenue. 

It  is  an  awful  reflection  for  the  conductors 
to  meet,  that,  although  the  railroads  of  this 
country  are  now  spending  hundred  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars  for  train  auditors,  they  are 
more  than  getting  it  back  from  increased  col- 
120 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CONDUCTORS. 

lections  turned  in.  Is  not  this  more  of  a  con- 
demnation of  the  old  system  than  a  justifica- 
tion of  the  new?  Whether  or  not  the  train 
auditor  enters  into  collusion  with  the  conduc- 
tor, the  former  soon  learns  how  easy  it  is  to 
beat  the  system.  When  he  does  break  loose 
he  will  be  more  reckless  than  the  conductor. 
The  latter  probably  had  to  work  for  years  as 
a  freight  brakeman  and  a  freight  conductor  to 
get  where  he  is,  and  if  he  loses  out  may  be 
too  old  to  begin  all  over  again.  The  train 
auditor  gets  his  appointment  too  easily  to  value 
it  very  highly.  Offsetting  this  is  the  fact  that 
the  train  auditor  is  more  amenable  to  some  dis- 
cipline because,  as  yet  unorganized,  he  can  not 
rely  on  the  support  of  a  labor  union  to  secure 
his  reinstatement.  The  auditor  also  has  the  ad- 
vantage of  examining  character  from  a  wider 
range  of  selection  in  choosing  his  train  audi- 
tors. The  train  and  engine  services  have  been 
so  badly  over-specialized,  as  I  shall  show  you 
some  other  time,  that  our  choice  is  restricted 
to  men  whom  the  trainmaster  happened  to  hire 
as  extra  brakeman  years  ago.  These  slight 
advantages  in  favor  of  the  train  auditor  sys- 
tem have  been  given  undue  weight.  We  are 
all  too  much  inclined  to  dodge  responsibility, 

121 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

to  take  the  course  of  least  resistance  and  to 
pass  it  up  to  the  other  fellow.  The  company 
pays  the  bill. 

The  railways  of  this  country  are  wasting 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  every  year 
by  failure  to  make  the  conductors  do  their  hon- 
est duty.  I  would  like  to  have  you  immortalize 
yourself  by  saving  your  company  its  pro-rata 
share  of  this  economic  waste.  The  American 
people  at  heart  are  honest,  and  barring  a  few 
dishonest  traveling  men  who  short- fare  con- 
ductors and  train  auditors  with  cash,  will  in 
the  mass  support  you  and  the  Order  of  Rail- 
way Conductors  in  any  intelligent  movement 
for  honesty.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  people 
at  large  get  an  idea  that  you  are  omitting  to 
use  all  the  moral  forces  at  your  command  they 
will  organize  some  more  special  commissions 
to  handle  another  part  of  your  business  for 
you.  Do  not  let  the  people  get  the  idea 
that  where  passenger  fare  stealing  flourishes, 
freight  claims  increase  because  some  freight 
crews  are  robbing  box  cars,  and  expenses  in- 
crease because  some  officials  are  grafting. 

If  I  were  your  president  I  would  ask  author- 
ity of  the  board  of  directors,  a  staff  body,  to 
say,  as  a  line  officer,  to  you,  also  of  the  line, 

122 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CONDUCTORS. 

that  as  chief  operating  official  you  are  the  only 
passenger  conductor  with  whom  the  executive 
and  staff  departments  will  normally  deal ;  that 
your  tenure  of  office  depends  quite  as  much 
upon  your  ability  to  prevent  stealing  as  to  pre- 
vent accidents.  To  the  auditor  I  would  say 
that  he  is  responsible  for  certifying  to  the  in- 
tegrity of  all  components  of  your  operations 
by  proper  examinations  after  the  fact;  that  he 
has  access  to  all  your  accounts  and  records; 
that  he  has  no  direct  authority  over  any  oper- 
ating men;  that  all  his  instructions  must  be  in 
general  terms  duly  approved  by  the  proper  ex- 
ecutive. Then  he  would  be  a  real  auditor  in- 
stead of  a  chief  accountant.  We  would  not 
have  to  call  in  the  public  accountant  to  do  our 
real  auditing.  You  would  be  a  real  general 
manager. 

Assuming  that  the  proposition  is  up  to  you, 
then  say  to  each  division  superintendent  that 
he  is  the  only  conductor  on  the  division  in 
whom  normally  you  will  be  personally  inter- 
ested; that  the  conductor  will  send  either  the 
original  or  a  duplicate  of  every  report  made  by 
him  to  the  superintendent's  office,  addressing 
it  impersonally,  "Assistant  Superintendent." 
Let  the  superintendent  understand  that  he  and 
123 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

his  assistant  superintendents  when  riding  over 
the  road  on  duty  at  the  company's  expense 
must  openly  check  the  train  just  as  they  check 
train  orders.  Pitch  it  on  the  high  plane  of 
self-evident  routine  duty  for  duty's  sake,  above 
any  thought  of  underhanded  spotting.  Give 
the  superintendent  as  many  assistant  superin- 
tendents and  clerks  as  he  may  need.  Do  not 
let  him  employ  specialists  for  this  one  simple 
component  of  operation.  Have  him  bulletin 
train  earnings  by  conductors  that  the  dear 
women  may  help  the  cause  by  sewing  society 
discussion.  Let  him  have  the  community  un- 
derstand that  some  explanation  is  expected 
from  a  get-rich-quick  conductor.  By  this  time 
it  will  dawn  on  the  superintendent  and  his  as- 
sistants that  their  jobs  depend  upon  the  pre- 
vention of  stealing.  Their  unconscious  sym- 
pathy with  the  thief  will  vanish.  Because  they 
are  close  enough  to  the  proposition  to  give 
practical  attention  they  will  prevent  stealing. 

I  am  aware  that  passenger  conductors  often 
run  over  more  than  one  division.  This  pre- 
sents no  serious  practical  difficulty,  although 
for  many  other  good  reasons  also  it  is  better, 
when  practicable,  for  conductors  not  to  run  off 
the  division.  Pullman  conductors  run  from 
124 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CONDUCTORS. 

their  home  district  over  the  districts  of  several 
of  their  superintendents. 

You  and  the  auditor  will  have  to  work  out 
the  details  as  to  the  necessary  bureau  in  your 
office,  depositaries  for  money,  interline  rela- 
tions and  numerous  other  propositions  which 
usually  become  self -suggesting  when  the  broad 
working  principles  are  established.  You  may, 
perhaps,  need  another  assistant  general  mana- 
ger for  this  work.  You  will  not  have  the  trou- 
ble a  general  manager  in  Mexico  once  did. 
His  assistant  general  manager  sold  out,  it  is 
said,  to  the  conductors.  These  conductors, 
mostly  Americans,  were  an  enterprising  lot. 
They  are  also  said  to  have  bought  the  detective 
agency  that  was  employed  to  check  them  up. 

On  some  runs  where  the  conductor  is  busy 
with  numerous  train  orders  you  may  find  it 
better  to  make  the  head  brakeman  a  collector, 
but  never  let  him  be  a  specialist  independent 
of  the  conductor. 

Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 


125 


LETTER  XII. 

THE  LABOR  NEMESIS  AND  THE  MANAGER. 

Omaha,  Neb.,  June  24,  1911. 
My  Dear  Boy: — You  tell  me  that  you  are 
conducting  labor  negotiations  these  days.  As 
I  understand  it,  all  the  old  grievances  have 
been  merged ;  after  eliminating  all  demands  in- 
troduced for  trading  purposes  it  is  simply  a 
question  of  more  money.  This  simplifies  the 
proposition.  The  union  gets  all  that  it  can  and 
the  general  manager  gives  up  only  what  he 
must.  Simple,  but  barbaric.  Such  innocent 
bystanders  as  the  public  and  the  stockholders 
may  get  hurt  in  the  process,  but  that  is  part  of 
the  penalty  for  being  innocent  bystanders.  We 
are  in  a  transition  period.  All  the  hot  air  fests 
that  you  are  now  holding  are  probably  neces- 
sary to  blow  the  chaff  away  from  the  wheat. 
Sooner  or  later  the  irrevocable  law  of  supply 
and  demand  must  operate  to  place  the  whole 
matter  of  the  compensation  of  labor  upon  a 
more  scientific  basis.  At  present  it  is  rather 
126 


LABOR  AND  THE  MANAGER. 

the  strength  of  the  particular  union  than  the 
relative  justice  of  its  demands. 

Our  predecessors  of  two  generations  ago  did 
many  fine  things,  but  they  overlooked  some 
basic  propositions.  Suppose  that  fifty  or  sixty 
years  ago  when  a  brakeman  expected  to  be  pro- 
moted to  a  conductor  they  had  said :  "Fine,  my 
boy.  You  have  the  ear-marks  of  a  conductor. 
You  understand,  of  course,  that  we  have  no 
conductors  who  cannot  run  an  engine.  We 
will  arrange,  without  money  loss  to  you,  for 
you  to  fire  two  or  three  years.  When  you  as- 
sure us  of  your  ability  to  run  an  engine  we 
will  begin  to  commence  to  talk  about  making 
you  a  conductor."  Later  on  a  man  with  this 
splendid  all-around  training  could  have  spe- 
cialized along  the  line  of  his  greatest  aptitude. 
We  would  not  see  freight  tied  up  in  terminals 
waiting  for  firemen,  with  a  board  full  of  extra 
brakemen.  There  would  be  an  elasticity  of 
assignment  that  would  work  out  for  the  good 
of  all  concerned.  We  would  not  have  the  fire- 
man straining  his  back  to  shovel  fifteen  or 
twenty  tons  of  coal  while  a  different  breed  of 
cat,  a  brakeman,  rides  on  the  fireman's  seat 
and  forgets  to  ring  the  bell  when  the  train 
starts. 

127 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

We  blame  the  unions  for  expensive  lack  of 
interchangeability  of  function.  The  fault  lies 
at  the  door  of  the  official  class.  The  master 
mechanic  said:  "This  is  my  man"  The  su- 
perintendent, and  later  the  trainmaster,  said: 
"This  is  my  man."  This  pleasing  tenacity  for 
so-called  individuality  left  the  company  out  of 
the  reckoning.  The  company  got  it  where  the 
chicken  got  the  axe,  sweet  Marie.  It  did  not 
take  the  men  long  to  respect  the  plane  of  cleav- 
age which  the  officials  had  projected.  So  we 
have  a  number  of  unions  with  conflicting  de- 
mands rather  than  the  more  enlightened  self- 
interest  of  a  larger  body.  I  know  that  it  has 
been  fashionable  to  play  one  union  against  an- 
other, but  the  day  of  this  is  nearly  passed.  Just 
how  it  will  all  work  out  I  do  not  know;  per- 
haps it  is  too  late  to  expect  amalgamation.  Per- 
haps it  will  come  of  itself  when  the  Firemen 
and  Enginemen  absorb  or  replace  the  Brother- 
hood of  Locomotive  Engineers,  and  when  the 
Trainmen  outlive  the  Order  of  Railway  Con- 
ductors. Whatever  the  cause  and  whatever 
the  existing  conditions  the  result  is  plain.  We 
have  a  number  of  forces  operating  to  restrict 
the  output  of  capable  men.  The  economic 
machinery  of  society  at  large  is  therefore  out 
128 


LABOR  AND  THE  MANAGER. 

of  balance.  You  cannot  blame  the  artisan, 
skilled  or  unskilled,  for  guarding  the  entrance 
to  his  craft.  It  is  human  nature,  and  it  is 
right.  The  debatable  ground,  however,  is  as 
to  where  the  entrance  of  the  public  at  large 
should  be  to  prevent  the  matter  being  over- 
done. No  one  labor  organization  can  expect, 
in  the  long  run,  to  be  given  preferred  consid- 
eration over  another;  neither  can  the  labor 
unions,  comprising  only  a  small  percentage  of 
the  country's  population,  expect  indefinitely  to 
dominate  society  at  large. 

It  is  useless  to  expect  to  accomplish  much 
in  the  way  of  increased  elasticity  of  labor  as 
long  as  railway  officials,  through  so-called  de- 
partments, insist  upon  narrowing  and  special- 
ized rigidity.  Such  reforms  to  be  effective 
must  begin  at  the  top.  It  will  all  come  out  in 
the  wash,  but  in  the  meantime  the  laundry  bills 
are  disproportionate  and  may  place  cleanliness 
far  beyond  godliness. 

General  Sherman,  one  of  the  versatile  ge- 
niuses developed  by  our  great  Civil  War,  once 
said  that  most  men  consider  the  immediate  at 
the  expense  of  the  remote;  that  a  few  like 
himself  were  handicapped  by  considering  the 
remote  rather  than  the  immediate;  that  really 
129 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

great  men,  like  Grant,  derived  their  title  to 
greatness  from  an  ability  to  balance  the  imme- 
diate and  the  remote.  All  men  are  more  or 
less  a  product  of  conditions  and  environment. 
The  railroad  official  of  today  lives  from  hand 
to  mouth — the  hand  of  expediency  to  the 
mouth  of  rapid-fire  results.  When  more  roads 
are  like  the  Pennsylvania  in  having  the  sta- 
bility which  admits  of  intelligent,  far-seeing, 
actual  control  by  directors  and  executive  offi- 
cers, it  will  be  easier.  The  banker,  from  his 
condition  and  enviroment,  dreads  a  war  or  a 
strike  more  than  the  famine  and  the  pestilence. 
The  former  two  seem  to  him  to  be  avoidable, 
while  the  latter  may  be  visitations  of  Provi- 
dence. 

A  strike,  like  a  war,  is  a  terrible  thing  to 
contemplate.  A  surrender  to  principle  and 
violation  of  the  broad  laws  of  true  altruism 
can  be  even  more  terrible.  Last  year  when 
the  Pennsylvania,  backed  by  its  directors, 
called  the  bluff  of  the  Trainmen,  there  was 
hope  in  many  a  breast  that  a  lesson  would  be 
learned;  that  the  rights  of  the  community  at 
large  would  be  vindicated  as  against  the  unrea- 
sonable demands  of  the  powerful  few.  How 
quickly  did  the  Trainmen  find  an  excuse  to 
130 


LABOR  AND  THE  MANAGER. 

back  down !  Their  friend  and  adviser,  the  late 
Edward  A.  Moseley,  shrewd  and  scheming, 
once  told  them  that  their  best  weapon  is  a 
threat  of  a  strike  and  not  the  strike  itself.  By 
and  by  the  bankers  will  learn  these  lessons  and 
bargaining  will  be  scientific  and  altruistic  as 
well  as  collective  and  coercive. 

Perhaps  you  are  thinking  that,  like  the  min- 
ister who  lectures  the  members  present  for  the 
non-churchgoing  of  the  absentees,  I  am  taking 
too  much  of  this  out  of  you.  We  all  know,  as 
do  the  labor  leaders,  that  no  general  manager 
ever  went  through  a  long  strike,  successful  or 
unsuccessful,  without  ultimately  losing  his  job. 
The  directors  start  out  with  the  best  intentions 
of  supporting  him.  As  the  struggle  grows 
fiercer,  the  temporarily  reduced  earnings  have 
a  refrigerating  effect  on  their  feet.  This  cold 
storage  is  reflected  by  a  message  to  the  brain 
that  the  poor  Mr.  General  Manager  is  so  un- 
fortunate; that  he  lacks  tact.  "He  is  so  rash. 
He  jumps  right  in.  We  told  him  he  might  go 
out  to  swim  and  hang  his  clothes  on  a  hickory 
limb.  We  cautioned  him,  as  all  prudent  moth- 
ers should,  not  to  go  near  the  water."  Every- 
thing in  this  world  costs  something,  and  noth- 
ing is  more  expensive  than  an  unjust  peace,  a 
131 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

peace  which  leaves  out  of  the  reckoning  the 
rights  of  the  body  politic. 

One  of  the  hopeful  signs  of  the  times  is 
the  opposition  that  the  labor  unions  have  of- 
fered to  the  exponents  of  so-called  scientific 
management.  Already  our  critics  are  giving  in- 
dications of  becoming  our  allies  as  against  the 
hard-headed,  selfish  opposition  of  labor  unions 
to  progress.  This  will  serve  to  help  show  the 
public  our  problems  in  their  true  light.  All 
that  we  need  ask  is  a  fair  hearing,  and  ulti- 
mately the  calm  judgment  of  the  American 
people  will  decide  aright. 

I  have  no  quarrel  with  the  labor  union,  as 
such.  Were  I  in  the  ranks  I  would  belong  to 
a  union  and  give  it  my  loyal  support.  Mon- 
opoly and  combination  of  capital  beget  as  a 
corollary  a  labor  trust.  You  and  I  are  power- 
less to  eliminate  the  effect  of  such  natural,  eco- 
nomic forces.  We  can,  however,  help  control 
the  effect  of  these  forces,  preferably  by  rea- 
son. There  are  so  many  of  the  primal  instincts 
and  passions  still  extant  in  human  nature  that 
at  times  diplomacy  exhausts  itself  and  falls 
back  upon  the  protection  of  forces  offensive 
and  defensive,  active  and  passive. 

You  see  that  it  is  merely  a  phase  of  a  gen- 
132 


LABOR  AND  THE  MANAGER. 

eral  problem  that  a  disproportionate  amount 
of  your  time  is  taken  up  by  affording  an  op- 
portunity for  delegates  to  make  their  lodges 
believe  they  are  earning  their  per  diem  and 
expenses.  What  matters  it  to  the  locomotive 
engineers  if  their  importunities  cause  scant  at- 
tention to  the  unspoken  rights  of  your  clerks 
and  trackmen?  Why  not  figure  out  just  what 
proportion  of  your  time  the  different  organiza- 
tions are  entitled  to,  shut  off  senatorial  cour- 
tesy and  limit  debate  accordingly? 

Whatever  you  do,  have  your  division  super- 
intendents present  at  your  negotiations.  Do 
not  flatter  yourself  that  your  own  wonderful 
ability  will  enable  you  to  take  a  sound  position 
on  every  question  that  may  arise.  Such  delib- 
erations are  staff  work  and,  unlike  line  admin- 
istration, are  not  a  one-man  function.  The 
final  decision  should  rest  with  you,  but  in  the 
meantime  get  all  the  light  you  can.  Under 
the  unit  system  the  superintendent  can  be  thus 
spared  from  his  division  to  help  save  the  com- 
pany money  because  there  is  always  a  compe- 
tent man  to  perform  his  duties,  and  a  provision 
all  along  the  line  for  automatic  successions  to 
meet  just  such  incidents  of  service.  It  should 
be  as  easy  for  a  chief  assistant  superintendent, 
i33 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

familiar  with  the  routine,  to  assume  the  super- 
intendent's regular  duties  any  day  as  for  the 
second  dispatcher  to  work  the  first  trick.  When 
your  mechanical  assistant  conducts  his  shop 
negotiations,  by  all  means  insist  that  he  direct 
the  superintendent  to  send  in  each  mechanical 
assistant  superintendent  to  assist  in  the  con- 
ferences. 

One  reason  that  the  labor  situation  has  got- 
ten away  from  us  is  because  the  matter  has 
been  handled  on  too  large  a  scale.  The  ten- 
dency has  been  to  consider  the  abstract  possi- 
bilities rather  than  the  concrete  effort.  A 
superintendent  of  a  i4O-mile  division  once  rec- 
ommended approval  of  an  application  for  in- 
crease in  wages  of  his  milk  train  crew,  be- 
cause the  men  on  the  next  division  were  get- 
ting as  much  for  running  only  105  miles.  In- 
vestigation showed  that  his  men  were  on  duty 
less  than  six  hours,  of  which  the  total  time 
consumed  in  handling  milk  cans  was  a  trifle 
over  an  hour.  Each  general  manager  is  in- 
clined to  believe  that  his  men  will  get  the  worst 
of  it  as  compared  with  other  roads.  He  has 
been  inclined  to  yield  when  he  should  have 
been  firm.  The  further  away  from  4he  con- 
crete local  conditions  the  negotiations  can  be 
i34 


LABOR  AND  THE  MANAGER. 

conducted  the  more  vulnerable  are  the  officials. 
The  labor  leaders  know  this,  and  the  more  divi- 
sions or  the  more  roads  they  can  bunch  in  a 
single  negotiation  or  arbitration  the  more  un- 
wieldy becomes  the  proposition  and  the  greater 
the  gain  for  labor.  This  condition  of  things 
was  partly  inevitable,  is  now  partly  avoidable. 
Uniformity  may  be  deadly.  Standardization 
can  be  run  in  the  ground,  as  was  shown  when 
a  West  Virginia  agent  of  the  Chesapeake  & 
Ohio  painted  his  wooden-leg  orange  color  with 
maroon  trimmings. 

Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 


135 


LETTER  XIII. 

A  DEPARTMENT  OF  INSPECTION  OR  EFFICIENCY. 

Chicago,  July  I,  1911. 
My  Dear  Boy : — One  of  the  easiest  things  to 
measure,  because  definite  in  terms  and  limited 
in  quantity,  is  money.  The  things  which 
money  may  represent  are  hard  to  measure  be- 
cause often  intangible  and  indefinite.  The 
money  account  may  or  may  not  reflect  effi- 
ciency in  performance.  Have  we  not  been 
grasping  at  the  shadow  of  money  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  substance,  effect?  Consider,  if 
you  please,  the  working  of  a  bank,  perhaps  the 
corporate  institution  in  whose  efficiency  the 
public  has  the  greatest  confidence.  In  a  small 
country  bank  one  man  does  all  the  work.  Later 
he  requires  a  clerk  or  a  bookkeeper.  As  the 
bank  grows  there  are  self -suggesting  divisions 
of  labor  along  such  well  defined  positions  as 
teller,  paying  or  receiving,  cashier,  vice-presi- 
dent, president,  etc.  In  the  first  place,  the 
same  man  handles  the  money  and  its  written 
representations,  the  accounts.  When  we  reach 
136 


INSPECTION  OR  EFFICIENCY. 

the  stage  of  having  both  a  teller  and  a  book- 
keeper, the  one  is  a  check  on  the  other,  because 
of  a  difference  in  point  of  view.  I  do  not  un- 
derstand that  a  bank  considers  its  bookkeepers 
more  honest  than  its  tellers  or  vice  versa.  The 
bookkeeper  came  along  to  check  the  teller, 
not  because  of  such  marked  variations  in  hu- 
manity, but  because  of  the  volume  of  busi- 
ness. There  was  more  than  one  man  could 
do. 

The  large  corporations,  including  the  rail- 
ways, seem  to  have  followed  governments  into 
a  fundamental  fallacy  in  the  matter  of  money 
and  accounting.  Because,  now  and  then,  in 
spite  of  safeguards,  a  trust  is  violated  and 
money  embezzled,  a  remedy  is  sought  by  seg- 
regating in  administration  all  activities  having 
to  do  directly  with  fiscal  affairs.  The  ultimate 
effect  is  dwarfing  to  administration  and  fatal 
to  maximum  composite  efficiency.  In  a  com- 
pact establishment  like  a  department  store  or 
a  large  manufacturing  plant,  the  closer  con- 
tact of  the  departments  concerned  minimizes 
the  evils  of  this  segregation.  The  operations 
of  a  government  or  of  a  railway  extend  over 
so  much  territory  that  such  close  contact  is  im- 
possible. The  result  is  that  our  bookkeeper 
137 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

is  too  far  away  from  the  paying  teller.  The 
bookkeeper  then  arrogates  to  himself  fancied 
qualities  of  a  superior  being  blessed  with  a 
rectitude  born  of  the  guardianship  of  money. 
Yes,  we  must  have  the  transactions  of  one 
man  checked  by  another  more  or  less  disinter- 
ested. This  is  not  alone  a  question  of  integ- 
rity, but  concerns  the  failings  of  the  human 
mind.  The  more  conscientious  and  careful  the 
engineer  the  more  does  he  desire  a  check  on 
his  own  calculations  by  competent  persons.  We 
accept  the  estimates  of  the  engineer,  swallow 
them  whole  sometimes.  We  tell  him  to  go 
ahead  and  blow  in  the  company's  money  or 
credit  to  accomplish  a  desired  result.  This  is 
because  we  have  confidence  in  his  professional 
ability.  When  it  comes  to  one  of  the  compo- 
nents of  his  constructing  work,  the  disburse- 
ment of  real  money,  a  lay  function,  we  balk. 
We  say  to  him,  this  is  so  different  that  your 
vouchers  and  checks  are  worthless  until  mulled 
over  by  a  distant  circumlocution  office.  This 
office,  it  is  true,  has  no  first  hand,  practical 
knowledge  of  what  you  are  doing,  but  be- 
cause this  is  money  we  feel  safer  by  imposing 
such  a  check.  When  the  bookkeeper  sat 
in  the  same  room,  like  a  bank,  and  checked 
138 


INSPECTION  OR  EFFICIENCY. 

the  engineer,  this  was  a  good  working  hypoth- 
esis. Did  we  not  outgrow  it  long  ago?  We 
trust  the  engineer  to  hire  a  thousand  men,  to 
incur  a  legal  obligation  for  us  to  pay  them. 
Why  send  the  pay-rolls  several  hundred  miles 
to  be  checked  by  a  lot  of  boys?  Why  not  let 
the  engineer  disburse,  subject  to  a  real  check, 
after  the  fact,  by  a  competent  disinterested  in- 
spection of  his  work? 

The  same  general  line  of  reasoning  applies 
to  all  the  activities  of  a  railroad.  We  endeavor 
to  insure  integrity  by  disbursing  only  through 
the  central  offices  of  the  auditor  and  the  treas- 
urer. By  the  same  reasoning  a  large  bank 
would  keep  its  customers  waiting  at  one  win- 
dow because  only  one  teller  would  be  allowed 
to  pay  out  money.  A  bank  can  count  its  cash 
at  the  end  of  a  day,  but  it  can  never  tell  exactly 
what  remittances  its  correspondents  have  in  the 
mail.  A  railway's  money  is  even  more  in  a 
state  of  unstable  equilibrium.  All  night  long 
some  of  its  ticket  offices  and  lunch  counters 
are  open.  All  night  long  cash  fares  are  being 
collected  on  trains.  The  exact  amount  of 
.money  on  hand  at  a  given  moment  is  only  an 
approximation.  This  is  natural  from  the  char- 
acteristics of  a  railway.  It  would  be  a  hard 
i39 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

matter  to  stop  every  train  and  determine  the 
exact  location  of  every  freight  car,  at  home  or 
earning  per  diem,  at  any  particular  moment 
of  time.  We  can,  however,  approximate  suffi- 
ciently closely  to  the  conditions  to  serve  all 
practical  purposes. 

Tremble  not  at  my  coming,  Clarice ;  I  would 
not  push  the  auditor  off  the  pier.  Rather  would 
I  put  him  on  the  band  wagon  and  let  him  blow 
a  bigger  horn.  Is  not  accounting  one  of  sev- 
eral components  of  operation  of  which  collec- 
tion and  disbursment  are  yet  others?  Why 
not  frankly  admit  that  a  railway  is  too  unlike 
a  department  store  to  put  all  the  cashiers  and 
bookkeepers  on  a  single  floor?  Why  not 
interweave  accounting  with  operation?  Why 
not  make  such  operating  units  self-contained, 
as  experience  may  prove  wise  and  practicable  ? 
Some  of  the  best  roads  in  the  country  now 
have  division  accounting  bureaus  in  order  that 
the  superintendent  may  keep  his  operating 
expenses  in  hand.  The  next  step  must  be 
a  division  disbursing  officer.  A  pay-roll 
and  certain  kinds  of  vouchers,  including 
some  for  claims,  must  become  cash  without 
the  worthless  certification  of  the  general 
office. 

140 


INSPECTION  OR  EFFICIENCY. 

Returning  once  more  to  the  bank  for  inspir- 
ation and  for  light,  do  the  bookkeepers  of  a 
chain  of  associated  banks  report  to  a  head 
bookkeeper  in  a  central  office  in  a  distant  city  ? 
No,  each  bank  is  a  self-contained  unit  under 
the  president  or  a  manager.  The  policy  is 
dictated,  the  methods  are  prescribed  by  a  cen- 
tral authority.  Efficiency,  integrity,  and  uni- 
formity are  insured  by  inspections  and  audits 
by  competent  experts  free  from  local  affilia- 
tions. 

What  is  going  to  become  of  the  accounting 
department  ?  Why,  the  accounting  department 
is  going  to  be  absorbed  by  the  operating  de- 
partment. From  the  ashes  of  the  ruins  there 
will  arise  a  department  of  inspection  or  effi- 
ciency which  will  do  the  things  that  the  so- 
called  auditors  are  now  helpless  to  accom- 
plish. Some  of  the  men  in  this  new  depart- 
ment will  be  recruited  from  the  earnest  offi- 
cials and  clerks  of  the  accounting  department 
of  today.  These  men  fail  to  attain  the  result 
they  so  loyally  desire,  not  from  their  own  lim- 
itations, but  from  the  fallacy  of  the  system 
under  which  they  work.  They  deal  with  ac- 
counts— mere  symbols;  with  money,  a  repre- 
sentative. Their  work,  to  be  effective,  must 
141 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

deal  with  things,  and  above  all  with  men. 
Audit  is  extremely  important,  but  not  all-im- 
portant. Audit  is  a  component  part  of  a  larger 
activity,  inspection.  The  word  inspection  on 
railways  is  unfortunately  and  improperly  asso- 
cited  with  the  thought  of  secret  service  and 
underhanded  spotting.  True  inspection  is  as 
open  as  the  day  and  as  welcome  as  the  evening. 
The  earlier  station  agents  resented  the  crea- 
tion of  the  traveling  auditor  as  a  reflection 
upon  their  integrity.  The  station  agent  of 
today — and  as  a  class  what  splendid,  honest 
men  they  are! — welcomes  the  traveling  au- 
ditor, because  his  visit  means  a  clearance.  The 
public  accountant  had  a  long  fight  for  rec- 
ognition of  his  legitimate  function,  first  in 
England  and  later  in  this  country.  To- 
day he  is  established  and  is  desired  by  the  gen- 
eral accounting  officers  of  railway  corpora- 
tions. 

Following  the  public  accountant  comes  the 
efficiency  engineer.  While  one  inspects  con- 
ditions, the  other  audits  accounts.  By  an  easy 
process  of  evolution  the  two  positions  sooner 
or  later  merge  into  one.  The  volume  of  busi- 
ness may  warrant  segregation,  however,  into 
component  activities.  Sooner  or  later  the  final 
142 


INSPECTION  OR  EFFICIENCY. 

certificate  must  include  inspection  of  men  and 
things  as  well  as  audit  of  accounts. 

We,  the  railways,  are  big  enough  to  have 
our  own  efficiency  engineers.  This  is  a  dis- 
tinct function  for  the  staff  as  contra-distin- 
guished from  the  line.  Efforts,  more  or  less 
crude,  to  introduce  special  staff  work  have  sig- 
nally failed  on  a  number  of  railways.  The 
underlying  cause  has  been  a  violation  of  the 
principle  that  the  staff  can  never  as  such  di- 
rectly command  the  line.  The  temptation  of 
the  special  staff  men,  call  them  inspectors  or 
efficiency  engineers,  if  you  please,  is  to  become 
meddlers.  They  are  so  enthusiastic  for  the 
cause  that  they  desire  to  save  the  country  and 
reform  the  road  all  on  the  same  day.  The 
men  who  succeed  at  special  staff  work  are  those 
who  stick  to  the  principle  enunciated.  An  in- 
spector, because  he  is-  a  staff  officer,  should 
never  give  an  order. 

The  coming  new  department  of  inspection 
or  efficiency,  like  all  innovations,  will  have  its 
troubles.  One  of  the  temptations  will  be  to 
build  up  an  office  full  of  clerks  to  check  a  lot 
of  unnecessary  reports.  The  head  of  the  de- 
partment, whether  he  be  called  general  inspec- 
tor or  vice-president,  will  have  to  remember 
143 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

that  untrained  persons  do  not  necessarily  be- 
come endowed  with  superior  intelligence  and 
professional  acumen  by  the  privilege  of  per- 
sonal contact  with  him  and  assignment  to  his 
department.  To  be  successful  his  department 
will  consist  of  a  corps  of  highly  trained  in- 
spectors of  official  rank  and  experience,  capa- 
ble of  first  hand  dealing  with  things  and  men. 
The  tendency  of  both  inspection  and  audit  is 
to  become  perfunctory.  One  remedy,  found 
efficacious  by  the  Army,  is  definite  and  periodic 
rotation  from  the  line  positions.  The  law  of 
the  survival  of  the  fittest  will  bring  out  those 
all-around  men  who  can  succeed  in  both  line 
and  staff.  The  superintendent  who  has  been 
detailed  as  an  inspector  for  a  year  or  two  will 
return  to  a  division  with  a  broader  view  and 
will  be  a  better  superintendent.  He  will  not 
resent  the  inspection  of  his  division  by  the 
other  department,  because  conscious  of  the  fact 
that  the  inspectors  are  at  least  his  equals,  and 
perhaps  his  superiors,  in  experience  and  rank. 
These  inspectors  will  certify  not  only  that  the 
money  has  been  honestly  and  legally  expended, 
but  wisely  and  efficiently  as  well.  While  an 
absolute  essential,  honesty  is  not  the  only  com- 
ponent requirement  of  good  administration. 
144 


INSPECTION  OR  EFFICIENCY. 

The  one  road  on  which  good  intentions  are 
standard  ballast  is  not  as  yet  telegraphing  its 
accidents  and  its  density  of  traffic  to  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission. 

Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 


LETTER  XIV. 

PRESERVING    ORGANIZATION    INTEGRITY. 

Chicago,  July  8,  1911. 
My  Dear  Boy: — You  write  me  that  your 
work  is  heavy,  that  your  territory  is  extensive, 
that  you  wish  to  divide  it  into  two  districts 
each  under  a  general  superintendent.  If  your 
president  follows  his  usual  practice  and  asks 
my  advice  it  will  be  summed  up  in  four  letters, 
"d-o-n-'t."  For  years  I  have  been  seeking  in 
vain  for  a  general  superintendent's  district 
with  an  entirely  satisfactory  administration. 
I  know  many  strong  general  superintendents. 
The  trouble  is  not  with  them,  but  with  the 
system.  Organization  is  a  series  of  units. 
These  units  get  out  of  balance  when  they  are 
defective  or  incomplete.  There  is  usually 
withheld  from  the  general  superintendent  some 
such  vital  process  as  car  distribution,  on  the 
specious  plea  that  such  activity  is  so  different 
it  can  be  more  cheaply  handled  by  some  higher 
office.  If  the  organization  unit  is  created  it 
must  have  the  same  full  chance  for  life  and 
146 


PRESERVING  ORGANIZATION  INTEGRITY. 

development  as  the  rest  of  the  offspring.  A 
principle  in  organization  cannot  be  violated 
with  impunity  any  more  than  in  other  branches 
of  science. 

The  average  general  superintendent's  office 
is  a  great  clearing  house  for  correspondence. 
Few  matters  receive  final  action  and  many  are 
passed  along  to  the  general  manager's  office. 
The  resulting  delay  usually  does  more  harm 
than  good.  On  the  other  hand,  since  we  all 
like  to  feel  that  we  are  highly  useful,  the  gen- 
eral superintendent,  or  his  chief  clerk,  is  un- 
consciously dwarfing  the  initiative  of  superin- 
tendents by  requiring  references  to  him  of 
matters  that  should  receive  final  action  at  divi- 
sion headquarters.  If  you  do  not  believe  it, 
check  up  a  few  general  superintendents'  of- 
fices and  study  the  processes.  I  am  not  refer- 
ring to  jurisdictions  where  a  general  superin- 
tendent is  required  by  charter  or  other  legal 
requirements.  I  have  in  mind  districts  which 
are  arbitrarily  created  by  ill-considered  execu- 
tive mandate. 

The  general  superintendent  starts  out  with 
a  brave  determination  to  get  along  with  a 
small  staff.  Sooner,  rather  than  later,  human 
nature  asserts  itself;  he  feels  that  my  man  can 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

be  more  useful  if  he  is  on  my  staff.  He  builds 
up  a  larger  staff  with  an  inevitable  retarding 
bureau  of  correspondence.  He  perhaps  has  a 
$200  traveling  engineer  rinding  fault  with  the 
division  performance  of  the  $300  superintend- 
ent. 

Sometimes  a  general  superintendent  is  lo- 
cated at  a  large  city  under  the  theory  that  the 
importance  of  the  metropolis  demands  an  offi- 
cer of  higher  rank.  There  are  various  ways 
to  skin  a  cat,  and  the  method  we  have  seen 
is  not  necessarily  the  only  solution.  The  Penn- 
sylvania handles  successfully  large  cities  like 
Cincinnati,  Cleveland  and  Chicago  with  a  su- 
perintendent who  has  the  authority  of  a  gen- 
eral agent. 

The  unit  system  of  organization,  because 
based  on  sound  fundamental  principles,  solves 
several  vexatious  problems.  Among  these  is 
this  matter  of  general  superintendents'  dis- 
tricts. Under  the  unit  system  every  assistant 
should  have  his  office  of  record  in  the  same 
building  with  the  head  of  the  unit.  For  ex- 
ample, it  is  a  violation  of  good  organi- 
zation to  give  a  district  passenger  agent 
the  title  of  assistant  general  passenger  agent 
with  an  office  of  record  at  a  city  away 
148 


PRESERVING  ORGANIZATION  INTEGRITY. 

from  the  general  offices.  If  such  outly- 
ing office  of  record  is  necessary,  and  it 
sometimes  is,  a  complete  unit  should  be  segre- 
gated under  a  head  with  some  such  distinct 
title  as  district  or  division  passenger  agent. 
This  does  not,  however,  preclude  having  an 
assistant  reside  in  the  outlying  city  and  main- 
tain his  office  of  record  at  the  general  office 
in  the  same  file  with  the  head  of  the  unit. 

If  I  were  you  I  would  appoint  enough  as- 
sistant general  managers  so  that  you  can  have 
one  reside  at  each  point  where  you  have 
dreamed  district  headquarters  are  necessary. 
Give  him  a  business  car  and  a  stenographer, 
but  let  him  understand  that  his  office  file  is  a 
part  of  yours.  Let  him  live  on  the  road  as  a 
high  class  traveling  inspector,  superior  in  rank 
to  the  people  he  is  inspecting.  He  is  your 
staff  officer  with  line  authority  available  for 
action  when  in  his  judgment  circumstances 
so  require.  He  can  obtain  all  necessary  in- 
formation from  the  files  at  division  headquar- 
ters or  by  telegraphing  your  office.  Your  chief 
of  staff,  the  senior  assistant  general  manager, 
will  promulgate  instructions,  while  this  travel- 
ing representative,  like  a  trainmaster  on  a  di- 
vision, will  see  that  they  are  carried  out. 
149 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

When  he  finds  it  necessary  to  give  instruc- 
tions he  should  promptly  notify  your  office, 
that  the  record  may  be  completed  and  confu- 
sion avoided.  He  can  do  all  this  without  be- 
coming bureaucratic,  without  putting  the  com- 
pany to  the  expense  of  a  great  circumlocution 
office  maintained  under  the  feudal  notion  of 
his  royal  importance.  Railroad  administration 
suffers  from  too  many  offices  and  instructions, 
not  from  too  few.  The  best  officials,  and  the 
best  train  dispatchers,  give  the  fewest  orders. 
It  is  a  qualitative  rather  than  a  quantitative 
proposition. 

The  moral  effect  of  the  presence  of  an  offi- 
cial cannot  be  discounted.  We  need  more  of- 
ficials and  fewer  clerks.  The  railways  are 
over-manned,  because  they  are  under-officered. 
The  great  mistake  of  the  past,  due  to  crude 
conceptions  of  organization,  has  been  in  creat- 
ing offices  rather  than  officials. 

The  same  line  of  reasoning  applies  to  the 
handling  of  outlying  terminals  on  a  division 
away  from  a  dispatcher's  office.  The  old  idea 
has  been  to  locate  a  trainmaster  with  an  office 
at  such  points.  The  moral  effect  of  his  pres- 
ence is  unquestionably  good.  The  objection  is 
that  he  must  necessarily  be  on  the  road  much 
150 


PRESERVING  ORGANIZATION  INTEGRITY. 

of  the  time,  and  the  train  crews  are  handled 
by  a  clerk.  Duplication  results  because  most 
of  the  correspondence  and  records  have  to  be 
referred  to  the  superintendent's  office.  The 
Union  Pacific  has  found  it  better  under  the 
unit  system  to  have  an  assistant  superintendent 
reside  at  such  important  terminals.  His  office, 
however,  is  located  with  the  superintendent, 
which  encourages  travel  back  and  forth,  just 
what  is  desired,  and  discourages  sitting  in  an 
office  and  carrying  on  correspondence  which 
can  better  be  looked  after  by  the  chief  of  staff 
in  the  superintendent's  office.  The  train  crews 
are  under  the  immediate  direction  of  the  yard- 
master  when  in  the  terminal,  and  of  the  train 
dispatcher  when  on  the  road. 

The  railroads  of  this  country  have  suffered 
from  rigidity  in  administration.  The  unit  sys- 
tem permits  an  elasticity  of  assignment  to  take 
care  of  conditions  as  they  come  along.  For 
example,  your  non-resident  assistant  general 
manager  can,  if  desirable,  chaperon  three  divi- 
sions when  movement  is  heavy,  and  four  or 
five,  if  you  please,  during  the  dull  season.  You 
can  on  short  notice  throw  all  assistants  to  the 
most  exposed  points.  A  non-resident  assistant 
superintendent  can  likewise  be  sent  to  an  ex- 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

posed  district.  A  permanently  located  train- 
master requires  an  official  circular  to  have  his 
jurisdiction  extended,  and  if  suddenly  ordered 
away  can  leave  only  a  clerk  to  represent  the 
company.  A  railway  has  an  ever-present  fir- 
ing line.  The  more  mobile  the  official  force 
the  more  promptly  can  weak  portions  be  rein- 
forced. 

A  striking  violation  of  the  unit  principle  in 
organization  is  to  have  the  master  mechanic 
report  to  the  division  superintendent  in  trans- 
portation matters  and  to  the  superintendent  of 
motive  power  in  technical  matters.  This  is  a 
half-way  attempt  at  divisional  organization 
which  lacks  the  courage  of  conviction.  Better 
have  a  straight  departmental  organization  with 
its  divided  authority  and  expensive  duplica- 
tion than  thus  to  straddle  the  question.  If  the 
division  is  to  be  a  real  unit,  it  must  be  com- 
plete and  self-contained.  The  lack  of  balance 
in  this  attempt  at  divisional  organization  comes 
from  the  fact  that  units  are  mixed.  The  su- 
perintendent of  motive  power,  a  general  offi- 
cer with  jurisdiction  over  the  entire  road,  is 
a  member  of  the  general  manager's  staff.  He 
has  a  rank  and  value  superior  to  that  of  a  divi- 
sional officer,  the  superintendent.  The  poor 
152 


PRESERVING  ORGANIZATION  INTEGRITY. 

master  mechanic  is  often  puzzled  which  supe- 
rior to  please.  His  natural  inclination  will  be 
toward  the  man  higher  up,  the  superintendent 
of  motive  power.  Again,  it  is  difficult  for  any 
three  men  to  agree  upon  what  are  technical 
matters.  The  chief  of  staff  method  is  not  ap- 
plicable to  this  phase  of  the  problem,  because 
units  have  been  mixed.  The  master  mechanic 
and  the  superintendent  of  motive  power  are 
not  components  of  the  same  integral  unit.  The 
unit  system  of  organization  requires  a  super- 
intendent of  motive  power  to  transact  all  busi- 
ness of  record  with  the  office  of  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  division,  a  component  unit  of 
the  general  jurisdiction.  The  senior  assistant 
general  manager  and  the  senior  assistant  su- 
perintendent, each,  as  a  chief  of  staff  for  the 
head  of  his  unit,  decides  promptly  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  head  of  the  unit,  what  matters 
are  sufficiently  technical  to  demand  the  atten- 
tion of  a  particular  official.  Clear-cut,  definite 
and  prompt  action  is  possible,  with  proper 
checks  and  balances,  because  units  are  not 
mixed.  The  governor  can  introduce  a  balance 
without  throwing  the  administrative  machine 
out  of  gear  to  avoid  stripping  its  cogs.  The 
splendid  personal  equation  of  railroad  officials 
iS3 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

often  serves  to  carry  an  illogical  organization 
in  spite  of  its  fundamental  defects.  Similar 
violations  of  scientific  principles  in  material 
things  would  cause  bridges  to  collapse  and 
locomotives  to  break  down.  The  showing 
made  by  the  railroads  is  a  tribute  to  the  admin- 
istrative ability  of  their  officials  rather  than 
to  their  knowledge  of  organization.  The 
Pennsylvania  a  half  century  ago,  and  the  Har- 
riman  Lines  in  more  recent  years,  are  said  to 
be  the  only  roads  that  have  made  comprehen- 
sive studies  of  the  science  of  organization. 
Both  of  these  great  railways  are  prepared  to 
stand  the  test  of  time.  Both  will  grow 
stronger  as  the  years  roll  by.  So  feudal  is  the 
conception  of  organization  on  most  railways 
that  the  essential  elements  of  self -perpetuation 
are  sadly  lacking.  Fortunately  their  traffic 
strength  is  so  great  and  our  country  develops 
so  fast  that  errors  due  to  preconceived  miscon- 
ceptions and  personal  caprice  are  covered  up 
by  increased  earnings.  One  encouraging  sign 
is  that  railway  officials  have  ceased  to  be  quite 
so  cocksure  of  themselves  and  are  seeking  the 
underlying  reason  for  the  faith  that  is  in  them. 
True  science  ever  finds  its  vindication  in  im- 
partial inquiry  and  intelligent  investigation. 


PRESERVING  ORGANIZATION  INTEGRITY. 

The  world  advances  by  definite  steps  rather 
than  by  leaps  and  bounds.  Do  not  lament  the 
fact  that  some  roads  are  groping  ahead  only 
to  occupy  the  abandoned  organization  camps 
of  the  Harriman  Lines.  Be  thankful  rather 
that  they  have  moved  forward  at  all,  that 
though  lacking  in  faith  they  are  coming  to  a 
position  admitting  of  enlarged  perspective. 
Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 


LETTER  XV. 

THE  SIZE  OF  AN  OPERATING  DIVISION. 

Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  July  15,  1911. 
My  Dear  Boy: — How  many  miles  of  road 
should  one  division  superintendent  handle? 
Like  the  old  lady's  recipe  for  pie  crust,  it  all 
depends.  Some  superintendents  in  the  east 
with  two  hundred  miles  handle  as  much  busi- 
ness as  do  their  western  brothers  with  a  thou- 
sand. As  a  matter  of  fact  mileage  has  little  to 
do  with  the  question.  On  the  ideal  division 
the  superintendent  is  in  the  middle  with  terri- 
tory extending  one  freight  district  in  each  di- 
rection. If  he  happens  to  be  at  a  hub  he  can 
comfortably  handle  several  freight  district 
spokes,  which  will  increase  his  mileage  accord- 
ingly. Under  such  a  condition  the  advantages 
of  a  seemingly  large  mileage  are  numerous. 
The  superintendent  can  run  his  power  wher- 
ever most  needed.  He  can  hold  back  at  the 
farther  end  of  one  district  cars  that  he  knows 
the  connecting  district  cannot  possibly  load  or 
unload  for  several  days.  He  can  preserve  a 
156 


THE  SIZE  OF  AN  OPERATING  DIVISION. 

balance  which  is  impossible  when  jurisdictions 
divide  at  the  hub.  In  the  latter  case  each  su- 
perintendent hurries  freight  to  the  end  of  the 
division  to  avoid  a  paper  record  showing  delay 
on  his  territory.  The  result  is  that  the  next 
man  has  terminal  indigestion  because  he  has 
been  fed  too  fast.  Therefore,  divisional  juris- 
diction should,  when  possible,  change  at  an 
outlying  district  terminal  away  from  a  large 
city.  This  avoids  the  added  complication  due 
to  industrial  switching,  suburban  trains,  re- 
stricted area,  etc.,  etc.  A  congestion  of  cars 
is  often  caused  by  a  congestion  of  jurisdic- 
tions. You  may  avoid  the  one  by  diffusing 
the  other.  Several  roads  in  the  country  have 
saved  heavy  expenditures  for  larger  terminal 
facilities  by  more  scientific  organizations. 

The  amount  of  mileage  a  superintendent  can 
economically  handle  depends,  then,  for  the 
most  part  upon  the  location  of  his  headquar- 
ters. Such  location  in  turn  admits  of  no  hard 
and  fast  rule.  Cities  and  towns  spring  up  and 
industries  develop  quite  regardless  of  the  limits 
of  a  hundred-mile  freight  district  and  a  speed 
of  ten  miles  per  hour  on  the  ruling  grade.  A 
railroad  usually  begins  and  ends  at  a  large  city 
which  is  either  a  seaport  or  a  gateway.  It  is 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

normally  better  to  locate  a  division  superin- 
tendent at  such  beginning  and  ending  city.  He 
can  then  handle  its  terminals  and  the  one  or 
more  diverging  freight  districts.  His  division 
should  include  the  terminal  at  the  farther  end 
of  such  districts,  to  afford  him  opportunity 
both  to  hold  back  stuff  whose  inopportune  ar- 
rival might  congest  the  more  complicated  ter- 
minals at  headquarters  and  to  relieve  such  ter- 
minals promptly  by  movement  outward.  In 
other  words,  owing  to  his  important  terminals 
this  superintendent  should  have  less  mileage 
than  his  country  brother  who  would  be  in  the 
middle  between  the  second  and  third  districts. 
Some  roads  try  to  solve  the  problem  by  giv- 
ing the  superintendent  the  first  and  second  dis- 
tricts with  headquarters  in  the  middle.  If  in 
such  case  the  general  offices  happen  to  be  at 
the  initial  point  they  soon  ignore  the  superin- 
tendent and  do  business  direct  with  his  termi- 
nal subordinates.  When  this  condition  be- 
comes intolerable,  one  of  two  things  usually 
happens.  Perhaps  the  superintendent's  office  is 
moved  to  the  first  terminal  where  it  really  be- 
longs. Thereupon  he  loses  full  touch  with 
his  freight  crews  on  the  second  district,  which 
is  left  out  in  the  air.  The  other  attempted 
158 


THE  SIZE  OF  AN  OPERATING  DIVISION. 

remedy  is  to  appoint  a  superintendent  of  ter- 
minals reporting  direct  to  the  general  offices. 
The  difference  in  viewpoint  thus  legalized  may 
cost  the  stockholders  much  money.  To  the 
terminal  superintendent  the  trains  are  always 
made  up  on  time  and  the  power  and  road  crews 
are  seldom  ready.  To  the  division  superin- 
tendent the  trains  are  seldom  made  up  on  time 
and  the  power  and  road  crews  are  always 
ready.  Much  energy  of  both  officials  and 
their  offices  as  well  as  that  of  the  general  su- 
perintendent and  his  office  is  then  directed  to 
holding  useless  post  mortems  and  negotiating 
unnecessary  treaties  of  peace.  Remember,  my 
boy,  that  typewriters  exert  no  tractive  power 
and  explanations  move  no  cars.  Self-preser- 
vation is  the  first  law  of  nature.  We  must  so 
organize  that  this  law  will  operate  to  keep  the 
company  into  clear,  not  to  put  some  other  fel- 
low in  the  hole.  All  of  these  questions  are 
largely  matters  of  opinion.  After  working 
with  every  kind  of  terminal  organization  all 
over  the  country,  your  old  dad  believes  that 
the  best  is  to  have  a  division  superintendent  at 
the  big  terminal  with  an  assistant  superintend- 
ent in  direct  charge  of  and  responsible  for 
such  terminal,  the  superintendent  controlling 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

every  diverging  freight  district  to  include  the 
next  terminal. 

It  should  always  be  remembered  that  a  large 
terminal  demands  preferred  consideration,  be- 
cause owing  to  restricted  area  its  problems 
are  intensive  and  expensive.  A  dispatcher  has 
a  hundred  miles  or  more  over  which  to  keep 
his  trains  apart,  while  a  yardmaster  finds  his 
engines  bunched  within  a  mile  or  two.  Again, 
if  the  cost  of  terminal  switching  does  occasion- 
ally happen  to  be  reflected  in  a  freight  rate, 
the  genial  gentlemen  of  the  traffic  department 
are  prone  to  recommend  its  absorption.  I  be- 
lieve as  a  broad  proposition  that  the  manage- 
ment of  railroads  is  more  scientific  than  that 
of  most  modern  industries.  I  would  not  like, 
however,  to  file  much  of  their  terminal  opera- 
tion as  an  exhibit.  A  majority  of  the  switch 
engines  in  the  United  States  have  one  super- 
fluous man  in  the  crew.  This  is  partly  because 
so  few  operating  officials  have  sufficient  prac- 
tical knowledge  of  switching  to  go  out  and 
intelligently  handle  a  crew  all  day.  If  you 
don't  believe  this,  make  some  time  and  motion 
studies  of  switching.  Compare  the  relative 
performance  of  your  yard  conductors.  The 
tasks  of  road  conductors  are  relatively  so  well 
160 


THE  SIZE  OF  AN  OPERATING  DIVISION. 

defined  that  comparison  of  individual  perform- 
ance is  not  so  difficult.  The  intense  conditions 
of  a  terminal  complicate  such  differentiation 
as  among  yard  conductors. 

Another  factor  of  prime  importance  in  de- 
termining the  size  of  an  operating  division  is 
the  location  of  train  dispatchers.  The  dis- 
patcher's table  should  always  be  considered  an 
integral  part  of  the  superintendent's  headquar- 
ters offices.  The  train  sheet  is  perhaps  the  best 
record  on  a  railroad.  It  is  never  fudged  by 
being  made  up  in  advance.  It  is  a  history  usu- 
ally unimpeachable  because  it  is  so  close  to  the 
actual  transactions  which  it  records.  It  deals 
with  the  essence  of  railway  operation,  train 
movement.  Few  are  the  important  records  on 
a  railway  that  do  not  derive  their  primary  data 
from  the  train  sheet.  The  sheet  may  be  gra- 
phic, like  a  daily  time  card  chart,  or  may  be 
cut  up  into  card  strips,  as  under  the  ABC 
system.  In  any  form,  it  is  a  fundamental  of 
operating  history. 

The  number  of  dispatchers  to  which  a  divi- 
sion is  limited  is,  like  the  number  of  miles, 
variable.  With  headquarters  at  the  hub,  one 
superintendent  and  one  chief  dispatcher  may 
comfortably  handle  three  or  four  sets  of  dis- 
161 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

patchers.  An  outlying  division  with  thin  traf- 
fic may  require  only  one  set  of  dispatchers. 
When  it  becomes  necessary  to  locate  a  set  of 
dispatchers  away  from  division  headquarters, 
it  is  time  to  appoint  another  superintendent 
and  create  a  new  division,  perhaps  with  only  a 
light  staff  of  all  'round  officials.  So  important 
is  the  train  sheet  and  so  much  of  vital,  human 
interest  centers  around  a  dispatcher's  office, 
that  the  far  away  superintendent  must  refer 
much  correspondence  to  this  detached  portion 
of  his  office.  The  result  is  expensive  circum- 
locution and  a  lack  of  human  touch.  The  su- 
perintendent has  in  effect  become  a  general 
superintendent  too  far  away  from  real  things. 
A  trainmaster  or  a  chief  dispatcher  is  really 
carrying  the  responsibility  of  a  superintendent 
without  the  title  and  authority  necessary  for 
smooth  administration.  I  know  several  rail- 
ways that  are  fooling  themselves  into  the  be- 
lief that  they  are  saving  money  by  having  one 
superintendent  for  two  dispatching  offices. 
One  of  them  has  five  superintendents  and  ten 
dispatching  offices,  really  ten  divisions  in  fact, 
if  not  in  name.  By  a  logical  arrangement  of 
territory  these  ten  dispatching  offices  could  be 
consolidated  into  seven  division  headquarters 
162 


THE  SIZE  OF  AN  OPERATING  DIVISION. 

and  the  road  operated  in  seven  divisions.  In 
these  days  of  overtime  and  complex  working 
schedules,  a  timekeeper  should  check  the  time 
slips  against  the  original  train  sheet,  not 
against  a  copy,  a  transcript  or  an  excerpt.  A 
division  accounting  bureau  handling  all  that  it 
should  handle  has  also  much  other  use  for  the 
train  sheet. 

Second  only  in  importance  to  the  train  sheet 
as  a  record,  and  with  which  it  should  be  closely 
related,  is  the  conductor's  car  and  tonnage 
report;  what  the  men  call  the  wheel  report. 
This  important  report  made  by  a  division  man 
is  sent  to  a  remote  general  office  in  disregard 
of  the  responsible  head  of  such  division,  the 
superintendent.  The  result  is  that  a  distant 
authority,  the  superintendent  of  transporta- 
tion, is  telling  the  superintendent  that  certain 
cars  are  being  delayed  on  the  latter's  division. 
This  profuse  correspondence  is  often  foolish, 
because  meantime  the  cars  have  actually  gone. 
Some  roads  now  have  a  carbon  copy  of  the 
wheel  report  made  for  the  use  of  the  account- 
ing department.  Why  not  send  this  carbon  to 
division  headquarters  and  let  the  division  ac- 
counting bureau  make  up  the  ton  miles  and 
the  car  miles,  subject  to  proper  check  after  the 
163 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

fact?  Why  not  have  the  office  of  the  super- 
intendent know  so  much  about  the  cars  on  his 
division  that  he  will  tell  the  general  offices  that 
certain  cars  are  being  delayed  on  his  division 
for  lack  of  motive  power,  loading  or  disposi- 
tion, conditions  which,  perhaps,  the  general 
office,  with  its  larger  view,  can  remedy?  This 
would  also  permit,  when  desirable,  the  check- 
ing of  the  agents'  car  reports  against  the  con- 
ductors1 reports.  The  more  closely  to  actual 
transactions  we  can  do  our  checking  the  more 
intelligent  should  be  the  process  and  the 
smaller  its  volume. 

I  wish  that  you  would  come  out  here  and 
see  the  Southern  Pacific  run  its  monthly  sup- 
ply, pay  and  inspection  train.  Before  coming, 
re-read  my  letter  to  you  on  the  subject  some 
seven  years  ago.  I  know  of  no  place  where 
the  idea  has  been  better  carried  out.  Ideas 
seldom  originate  with  any  one  man.  They 
seem  rather  to  float  around  in  the  air.  They 
are  pulled  down  by  those  who  happen  to  erect 
lightning  rods  or  like  Benjamin  Franklin  to 
fly  kites.  To  vary  the  metaphor,  do  not  laugh 
at  people  who  ride  hobbies.  Sometimes  they 
ride  well  enough  and  far  enough  to  demon- 
164 


THE  SIZE  OF  AN  OPERATING  DIVISION. 

strata  that  the  hobby  is  a  real  horse.  Then  it 
is  the  turn  of  the  horse  to  laugh. 

Whenever  I  see  an  announcement  that  a 
division  has  adopted  the  telephone  for  train 
dispatching,  I  always  feel  that  there  should  be 
an  accompanying  apology  for  being  several 
years  behind  the  times.  For  years  progressive 
young  railway  men  advocated  the  telephone 
only  to  be  assured  by  old-time  dispatcher  offi- 
cials of  the  unwisdom  of  such  a  course.  Time 
and  practical  tests  have  shown  that  not  only 
is  the  telephone  practicable  for  dispatching, 
but  it  actually  makes  operation  safer  because 
of  the  increased  human  touch.  Whenever  and 
wherever  we  can  replace  a  specialist  with  an  all 
'round  man  we  are  gaining. 

The  first  train  dispatching  is  said  to  have 
been  done  by  Charles  Minot  when  a  superin- 
tendent on  the  Erie  in  the  early  fifties.  So 
seriously  was  the  matter  taken  that  only  the 
superintendent  himself  could  issue  a  train  or- 
der, even  though  this  involved  calling  him  out 
of  bed.  Hence  the  foolish  feudal  custom  of 
signing  the  superintendent's  initials  to  all  train 
orders.  It  soon  developed  that  a  regular  dis- 
patcher was  necessary.  Accordingly,  a  con- 
165 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

ductor,  a  man  who  knew  how  trains  were  prac- 
tically handled,  was  taken  off  the  road  and 
brought  to  the  superintendent's  office  to  dis- 
patch trains.  Stop  off  at  Port  Jervis,  N.  Y., 
some  time  and  in  a  local  hotel  see  the  portraits 
of  some  of  these  old  Erie  dispatcher-con- 
ductors, their  dignity  being  protected  by  the 
tall  beaver  hats  of  the  period.  The  dispatcher 
not  being  a  telegrapher,  he  wrote  out  his  or- 
ders and  handed  them  to  a  young  operator  to 
send.  This  operator  was  a  bright  fellow,  who, 
by  and  by,  graduated  into  a  dispatcher,  able 
to  send  his  own  orders  and  often  to  do  the 
work  previously  requiring  both  men.  Too 
often  it  has  happened  that  the  experience  of 
the  new  dispatcher,  a  telegrapher  specialist, 
was  limited  to  the  office  end,  with  no  first- 
hand experience  in  train  service.  The  tele- 
phone, fulfilling  the  immutable  laws  of  evolu- 
tion, will  take  us  back  to  first  principles.  The 
dispatchers  of  the  future  will  graduate  from 
the  train,  engine  and  yard  service,  through  the 
dispatcher's  office  to  higher  official  positions. 
The  man  who  gives  the  order  will  be  a  man 
who  has  once  carried  out  such  an  order  him- 
self. The  man  below  will  obey  the  more  cheer- 
166 


THE  SIZE  OF  AN  OPERATING  DIVISION. 

fully  and  the  more  intelligently  because  of 
increased  confidence  in  the  man  above. 

When  the  record  is  made  up  by  the  future 
historian,  with  that  discriminating  perspective 
which  time  alone  can  give,  high  will  be  the 
place  accorded  the  railroad  officials  and  em- 
ployes of  America.  The  military,  the  pioneers 
of  civilization,  the  forerunners  of  stability, 
have  their  periods  of  enervating  peace.  Trans- 
portation, the  first  handmaiden  of  progress, 
is  in  active  attendance  every  day  of  the  year. 
Those  who  worship  at  her  shrine  and  follow 
her  teachings  must  lead  the  strenuous  life  and 
love  the  voice  of  duty.  The  splendid,  virile 
performance  of  the  past,  handicapped  often  by 
crude  facilities  and  forced  expansion,  must 
and  will  be  eclipsed  under  the  intense,  trying 
conditions  of  the  present  and  the  future.  In 
no  profession  more  than  in  ours  is*  there  eter- 
nity of  opportunity. 

Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 


167 


LETTER  XVI. 

SUPPLIES  AND  PURCHASES. 

Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  July  22,  1911. 

My  Dear  Boy : — Supplies  and  purchases  are 
a  feature  of  railroad  operation  illustrating  the 
tendency  to  overcentralization  through  over- 
specialization.  Please  notice  that  I  say  sup- 
plies and  purchases;  not  as  some  roads  do, 
purchases  and  supplies.  Is  not  "supply"  the 
broader  term,  including  "purchase"  as  a  very 
important  component?  If  we  happen  to  make 
some  of  our  supplies  from  our  own  scrap,  a 
question  of  supply  and  accounts  is  involved, 
but  not  necessarily  one  of  purchase.  The  vol- 
ume of  work  involved  in  purchasing  for  a 
large  railway  may  be  so  great  as  to  warrant 
the  segregation  of  the  purchasing  function. 

Among  the  best  purchasing  bureaus  in  the 
United  States  are  those  of  the  Harriman 
Lines.  As  I  understand  it,  their  able  director 
of  purchases  does  not,  as  many  people  suppose, 
scrutinize  all  requisitions.  Each  of  the  eight 
vice-presidents  and  general  managers  has  his 
168 


SUPPLIES  AND  PURCHASES. 

own  purchasing  agent,  who,  under  the  broad 
policy  of  local  autonomy,  buys  many  articles 
as  best  he  can.  Those  large  items  which  ex- 
perience proves  can  best  be  bought  for  all  by 
the  director  of  purchases,  are  so  purchased  un- 
der blanket  contracts.  For  those  items  the 
local  purchasing  agent  becomes  an  ordering 
agent.  The  point  of  it  all  is  that  no  iron  clad 
rule  is  laid  down.  Because  some  items  can 
best  be  purchased  in  bulk,  it  does  not  follow 
that  local  administration  should  be  hampered 
by  requiring  all  items  to  be  so  procured.  In- 
stead of  a  narrow,  rigid  rule,  there  is  a  broad 
policy  enunciated  which  permits  the  discrimi- 
nating judgment  of  experience,  to  decide  ques- 
tions on  their  individual  merits  under  the  ever- 
changing  conditions  of  service. 

When  railroads  are  older  similar  broad 
treatment  will  be  accorded  other  features  of 
operation  as  well  as  supplies  and  purchases. 
Broad  policies  and  individual  judgment  will 
gradually  supplant  attempts  to  decide  questions 
in  advance  in  accordance  with  preconceived  no- 
tions of  probable  conditions. 

The  evolution  of  the  so-called  store  depart- 
ment on  most  railways  has  been  a  striking  in- 
stance of  one-sided  development.  A  railway 
169 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

exists  to  manufacture  and  sell  an  intangible 
commodity,  transportation,  not  necessarily  to 
carry  either  a  large  or  small  stock  of  material 
and  supplies.  The  purchasing  agent  tells  us 
in  good  faith  how  much  money  he  has  saved 
the  company  by  time  spent  in  driving  good 
bargains.  He  is  not  in  a  position  to  know 
how  many  men  have  been  worked  to  poor  ad- 
vantage, or  have  been  idle,  while  waiting  for 
proper  tools,  materials  and  supplies.  Such 
features  of  economic  waste  are  not  always  the 
fault  of  the  purchasing  agent.  The  general 
storekeeper  and  the  local  storekeeper,  ambi- 
tious for  low  stock  records,  may  hold  down 
their  requisitions.  It  is  so  easy  to  say  that  a 
telegram  will  bring  a  cylinder  head  or  other 
spare  part  to  the  desired  point.  If  meantime  a 
big  locomotive  has  been  out  of  commission  in 
a  distant  roundhouse  for  two  or  three  days 
and  a  light  engine  has  been  sent  to  protect 
the  run,  there  is  nothing  in  the  store  accounts 
to  reflect  this  needless  expense.  The  individual 
batting  averages  are  high,  but  some  way  the 
team  is  not  winning  games. 

One  of  the  fallacies  introduced  by  the  store 
people  is  that  the  user  of  material  cannot  be 
trusted  with  its  custody,  because  he  will  carry 
170 


SUPPLIES  AND  PURCHASES. 

too  much  stock,  due  to  an  exaggerated  view 
of  future  necessities.  This  mistaken  theory  is 
carried  to  the  extent  of  denying  to  the  division 
superintendent  the  custody  of  fifty  shovels  to 
be  used  by  the  emergency  gang  of  fifty  men 
which  it  is  entirely  within  his  province  to  order 
out  to  clear  the  road.  The  men  he  can  com- 
mand. The  shovels,  without  which  the  men  are 
useless,  he  must  beseech  from  a  storekeeper 
receiving,  perhaps,  one-third  as  much  salary 
as  himself.  Of  course,  in  an  emergency,  the 
superintendent  takes  the  shovels,  anyway.  As 
I  said  before,  it  is  a  pretty  poor  system  that 
breaks  down  in  an  emergency.  The  test  of  a 
system  is  an  emergency.  I  confess  my  inabil- 
ity to  see  that  being  a  user  of  material  neces- 
sarily makes  a  man  more  indifferent  to  the 
company's  interests.  Perhaps  it  is  the  same 
habit  of  mind  that  causes  me  to  deny  greater 
rectitude  to  the  man  in  the  accounting  depart- 
ment. 

The  user  of  material  has  undoubtedly  been 
careless  in  many  cases.  Will  he  not  become 
more  careless  if  relieved  of  responsibility  and 
informed  that  he  cannot  be  trusted?  When 
children  err,  the  wise  parent  does  not  disown 
them.  From  his  fund  of  riper  experience,  he 
171 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

helps  them  by  impressive  teaching  to  gain  a 
proper  viewpoint.  Similarly,  the  general  store- 
keeper should  control  the  superintendent  and 
teach  the  latter  the  most  economical  handling 
and  use  of  material  and  supplies.  Control  is 
comparatively  valueless  without  authority. 
This  authority  can  be  most  effectively  con- 
veyed by  rank.  The  general  storekeeper  should 
not  be  a  keeper  of  a  general  store.  He  should 
be  a  general  officer,  under  the  general  mana- 
ger, superior  in  rank  and  pay  to  the  division 
superintendent.  Instead  of  the  superintendent 
being  relieved  from  responsibility,  he  should 
be  held  to  a  greater  accountability.  The  re- 
formed and  reconstructed  bandit  often  makes 
a  relentless  police  chief.  The  despised  user  of 
material  under  proper  organization  becomes 
the  zealous  conserver  and  protector. 

The  general  storekeeper,  like  the  chief  me- 
chanical officer,  should  be  located  in  the  same 
building  with  the  general  manager.  There  is 
no  more  reason  for  locating  either  one  at  a 
store  or  at  a  shop  than  there  is  for  locating  a 
general  superintendent  in  a  switch  shanty  near 
a  yard.  General  officers  must  see  the  whole 
property  and  maintain  a  balance  among  its 
component  units,  which  are  normally  operating 
172 


SUPPLIES  AND  PURCHASES. 

'divisions.  If  I  were  you,  as  between  your  pur- 
chasing agent  and  your  general  storekeeper, 
I  would  appoint  the  most  experienced  an  as- 
sistant general  manager,  so  that  his  office  file 
can  be  logically  and  consistently  consolidated 
with  your  own.  The  other  of  these  two  men 
I  would  make  purchasing  agent  with  a  distinct 
title  and  a  separate  office  file,  because  of  his 
large  volume  of  business  with  outside  persons. 
Such  assistant  general  manager  would  be  in 
effect  manager  of  supplies  and  purchases,  the 
trained  expert  seeing  the  whole  problem  of 
operation  and  deciding  normally  what  material 
and  supplies  the  company  needs.  Under  such 
assistant  general  manager,  would  be  the  pur- 
chasing agent,  a  staff  officer,  specializing  on 
the  technique  and  psychology  of  bargaining. 
Such  assistant  general  manager,  as  a  line  offi- 
cer, would  be  his  own  general  storekeeper  and 
would  hold  division  superintendents  responsi- 
ble for  the  stores  on  their  respective  divisions. 
His  work  would  be  co-ordinated  with  that  of 
the  other  assistant  general  managers  by  the 
chief  of  staff,  the  senior  assistant  general  man- 
ager. 

The  organization  thus  outlined  would  pre- 
clude the  necessity  for  the  usual  perfunctory 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

approval  of  requisitions  by  the  general  mana- 
ger. The  assistant  general  manager  for  sup- 
plies would  normally  put  the  final  approval 
on  requisitions.  Large  or  exceptional  items 
the  general  manager  would  approve.  When 
differences  of  opinion  developed  among  the 
interested  assistant  general  managers  as  to  the 
relative  ultimate  economy  of  different  mechan- 
ical or  structural  devices,  the  general  manager 
would  be  invoked  to  give  a  decision  that  really 
would  be  worth  something,  because  made  after 
considering  different  viewpoints.  Under  the 
old  order  of  things,  the  superintendent  of  mo- 
tive power  or  the  chief  engineer  is  tempted  to 
seek  the  ear  of  the  general  manager  on  the 
latter's  best  natured  day  to  put  over  a  requisi- 
tion for  some  pet  device.  So  sporadic  is  the 
comprehensive  consideration  of  requisitions,  so 
perfunctory  is  the  usual  approval,  that  the  gen- 
eral manager  frequently  tells  his  purchasing 
agent  not  to  take  the  former's  approval  too 
seriously,  and  to  hold  up  approved  requisitions 
about  which  the  latter  is  doubtful.  This  is  an- 
other species  of  unconscious  administrative 
cowardice  which  attempts  to  put  on  the  sub- 
ordinate the  burden  of  responsibility  for  a  de- 
parture from  the  normal.  True  organization 
i74 


SUPPLIES  AND  PURCHASES. 

and  administration  demand  normal  procedure 
by  subordinates.  At  normal  speed,  the  admin- 
istrative machine  should  run  well  balanced. 
When  the  speed  becomes  great  enough,  higher 
authority  should  be  a  governor  brought  into 
action  more  or  less  automatically.  Telling  a 
subordinate  habitually  to  question  the  acts  of 
his  superior  has  the  same  cheapening  effect  as 
unchecked  disregard  of  block  signals.  It  puts 
higher  authority  in  the  undesirable  attitude 
of  exploiting  a  fad,  or  an  over-worked  system, 
rather  than  of  demanding  reasonable  compli- 
ance with  proper  and  logical  requirements. 

Have  we  not  overdone  the  matter  of  low 
working  stocks?  Is  is  not  more  expensive  for 
a  railroad  to  carry  too  small  a  working  stock 
of  material  and  supplies  than  one  too  large? 
Is  not  the  problem  too  extensive  to  warrant 
very  rigid  comparisons  as  between  different 
roads  ?  Like  the  average  miles  per  car  per  day, 
does  not  the  equation  contain  too  many  vari- 
ables to  admit  of  a  very  exact  solution?  Can 
we  compare  effectively  the  dissimilar  condi- 
tions involved  in  climate,  distances  from  pro- 
ducing and  distributing  centers,  character  of 
predominating  traffic,  etc.  ?  Are  not  some  rec- 
ords for  seemingly  low  economical  stocks 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

based  upon  the  fallacy  that  it  costs  the  com- 
pany nothing  to  ship  and  reship  its  own  mate- 
rial ?  Where  would  these  records  land  if  com- 
pany material  carried  a  freight  charge  of,  say, 
5  mills  per  ton  per  mile?  Is  it  not  more  eco- 
nomical to  handle  numerous  items  of  supply  in 
carload  lots  regardless  of  average  monthly  con- 
sumption? Have  we  given  due  weight  to  the 
concealed  items  of  expense  in  arriving  at  con- 
clusions as  to  the  cost  of  handling  company 
material  and  supplies? 

Two  of  the  best-managed  roads  in  the  coun- 
try, the  Pennsylvania  and  the  Big  Four,  had 
no  stores  departments  the  last  time  I  inquired. 
At  the  other  extreme,  we  find  the  Santa  Fe 
and  the  Lake  Shore  carrying  their  depart- 
mental system  to  their  stores  in  an  intensified 
form.  In  between — that  happy  medium  which 
I  mentioned  to  you — stand  the  Harriman 
Lines  with  division  stores  under  the  division 
superintendent,  who  in  turn  as  to  supply  mat- 
ters is  under  the  general  storekeeper  or  other 
chief  supply  official,  the  latter  already  having 
in  some  cases  the  title  and  status  of  an  assist- 
ant general  manager.  The  man  in  direct 
charge  of  the  one  general  store  which  is  al- 
lowed each  general  jurisdiction  is  called  a 
176 


SUPPLIES  AND  PURCHASES. 

storekeeper.  The  underlying  conception  is 
that  railroad  stores  are  maintained  to  help 
make  the  wheels  go  around,  that  all  supply 
activities  should  be  concentrated  upon  the 
most  economical  manufacture  and  sale  of 
transportation. 

This  brings  us  to  another  phase  of  the  prob- 
lem. Frequently  a  railroad  as  a  plant  is  ade- 
quate to  manufacture  more  transportation  than 
it  can  sell.  The  other  fellow  is  getting  too 
much  of  the  competitive  business.  Investiga- 
tion often  shows  that  railroad  solicitors  can 
sell  a  shipper  no  freight  or  passenger  transpor- 
tation, because  his  salesman  receives  no  orders 
from  the  railroad's  purchasing  agent.  The  in- 
dustrial bureau  of  a  traffic  department  works 
to  create  new  business  which  is  fostered  by  dis- 
criminating freight  rates.  Yes,  I  stand  up  and 
use  the  word  "discriminating,"  because,  when 
properly  understood,  it  implies  intelligence  and 
science,  and  is  therefore  one  of  the  finest  words 
in  the  language.  This  good  work  of  the  traf- 
fic department  in  creating  wealth  and  develop- 
ing industrial  communities  in  territory  local 
to  a  particular  road  may  be  largely  lost  to 
that  road  because  its  purchasing  agent,  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously,  fails  to  exercise 
177 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

proper  and  legitimate  discrimination    in    the 
performance  of  his  important  function. 

At  first  blush,  in  these  days  of  doubting  in- 
sinuation and  hysterical  aspersion,  when  a  rail- 
way official  is  often  denied  the  presumption  of 
possessing  common  honesty,  when  the  burden 
of  proof  is  to  show  him  as  having  average  rec- 
titude, such  a  statement  may  be  construed  by 
distorted  minds  as  a  plea  for  subtle  forms  of 
rebating.  Tenuous  as  may  seem  the  line  here 
between  right  and  wrong,  it  can  in  a  given  case 
be  readily  determined.  Too  often  apparent 
complexities  are  only  the  result  of  an  abstruse 
contemplation  of  abstract  possibilities.  Give 
honest,  fearless,  practical  treatment  to  each 
concrete  case  as  it  arises,  indulge  more  in  in- 
ductive reasoning  which  predicates  laws  upon 
facts,  not  facts  upon  laws,  and  complexity 
gives  way  to  common  sense.  Transportation 
is  the  most  exacting,  the  most  diversified,  the 
most  far-reaching  of  commercial  and  industrial 
activities.  It  follows  then,  under  the  law  of 
the  survival  of  the  fittest,  that  those  who  can 
survive  in  the  art  and  science  of  transportation 
must  be  the  fittest  of  the  fit.  In  their  hands 
can  safely  be  left  the  solution  of  these  difficult 
problems. 

178 


SUPPLIES  AND  PURCHASES. 

After  three  years  of  satisfactory  experience 
with  division  accounting  bureaus,  the  Harri- 
man  Lines  have  extended  such  activities  to  in- 
clude the  division  stores.  This  is  done  by 
moving  the  division  storekeeper,  his  account- 
ing and  correspondence  clerks,  to  the  division 
superintendent's  office  in  order  that  division 
records  may  be  consolidated  in  one  file  and 
division  accounts  in  one  bureau.  A  division 
material-on-hand  account  is  included.  The 
necessary  issue  clerks,  foremen,  etc.,  are  left 
at  the  storehouse,  which  is  often  a  mile  or  two 
from  the  superintendent's  office.  Another 
avowed  object  is  to  get  the  division  supply 
people  closer  to  the  train  sheet,  to  give  propin- 
quity a  chance  to  develop  love,  and  to  counter- 
act that  we-are-so-different  feeling  which 
comes  on  many  railroads,  not  only  in  the 
spring,  but  under  all  signs  of  the  zodiac.  The. 
logical  development  on  divisions  of  consider- 
able volume  of  supply  business  will  be  to  make 
the  division  storekeeper  an  assistant  superin- 
tendent. This  method  of  store  accounting  is 
relatively  closer  to  real  transactions,  especially 
where  the  division  supply  train  is  used,  than 
might  be  supposed.  On  the  Hill  lines,  the  store 
accounting  is  done  in  the  general  auditor's  of- 
179 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

fice,  perhaps  one  or  two  thousand  miles  from 
the  store  itself,  a  decidedly  long  range  propo- 
sition. Which  policy  is  better  is  of  course  a 
question  of  opinion.  A  man's  views  on  organi- 
zation and  methods  are  largely  a  matter  of 
temperament  and  association,  just  as  his  poli- 
tics and  religion  depend  usually  upon  heredity 
and  environment. 

Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 


180 


LETTER  XVII. 

CORRESPONDENCE   AND    EXPLANATIONS. 

Portland,  Ore.,  July  29,  1911. 
My  Dear  Boy : — The  man  who  is  successful 
in  the  exercise  of  authority  soon  learns  to  be 
something  of  a  buffer  between  his  superiors 
and  his  subordinates.  He  learns  to  temper 
justice  with  mercy.  In  this  little  railroad  game 
of  ours  there  has  often  been  an  unconscious 
departure  from  this  rule  of  conduct.  The 
word  "why"  should  ask  for  an  increased  over- 
time rate  in  its  next  working  schedule.  Some- 
body at  the  top  is  peeved  because  a  train  comes 
in  late.  He  asks  the  next  man  below,  "Why?" 
Down  goes  the  inquiry  through  the  baskets  of 
offices  whose  files  contain  the  desired  informa- 
tion, because  it  is  so  much  easier  to  write 
another  man  a  letter  than  to  dig  up  one  of  our 
own.  The  final  inquiry  is  to  a  man  who  has 
already  rendered  one  report  or  explanation.  It 
would  be  a  pretty  poor  sort  of  recording  angel 
that  would  register  against  this  underling  the 
181 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

more  or  less  justifiable  profanity  in  which  he 
then  indulges. 

Up  in  this  part  of  the  country,  where  they 
do  some  mighty  good  railroading,  is  a  big 
hearted  general  officer,  who  once,  during  a 
blizzard,  directed  his  superintendents  to  order 
train  and  engine  crews  to  disregard  block  sig- 
nals forced  out  of  commission  by  the  elements. 
A  section  foreman  went  out  to  change  a  rail 
with  the  traditional  one  man  who  could  not 
flag  both  ways.  So  the  section  foreman,  with 
the  rail  out,  relied  upon  the  [automatic]  block 
signal  for  protection.  Along  came  the  train 
with  orders  to  disregard  the  signal — and  the 
engine  landed  in  the  ditch.  There  was  some 
official  talk  of  discharging  the  section  foreman. 
The  big  general  officer  faced  the  music  and 
said,  in  effect,  that  if  any  enforced  vacancies 
were  to  occur  he  himself  must  be  the  man. 
"Furthermore,"  he  added,  "we  have  learned 
something;  if  we  are  ever  again  tempted  to 
disregard  block  signals,  we  will  first  notify 
everybody  on  the  railroad,  including  the  sec- 
tion foremen."  Such  manliness  is  the  rule 
rather  than  the  exception  among  railroad  offi- 
cers. It  is  a  practical  kind  of  honesty  which 
counts  in  the  great  art  of  handling  men. 
182 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  EXPLANATIONS. 

The  lesson  to  be  drawn  is  that  we  should  all 
be  just  as  honest  and  considerate  for  the  man 
below  in  the  conduct  of  our  offices  as  in  the 
face  to  face  contact  of  outside  activities.  The 
first  thought  of  an  official  and  of  his  chief  of 
staff  should  be  to  avoid  humiliating  a  subor- 
dinate. A  letter  demanding  an  explanation  ac- 
cumulates much  momentum  of  censure  while 
traveling,  perhaps  from  the  general  offices, 
through  the  channels  to  an  agent,  a  yardmas- 
ter,  a  conductor,  or  a  foreman.  The  tendency 
of  each  office  is  to  unbottle  a  little  more  of  a 
never- failing  supply  of  suppressed  indignation. 
By  the  time  the  return  explanations  and  apolo- 
gies have  trekked  back  across  the  plains  to  the 
starting  point,  the  whole  incident  is  often  as 
much  ancient  history  as  the  days  of  '49. 

Yes,  we  must  have  explanations  for  certain 
irregularities.  The  taste  for  such  office  pabu- 
lum is  more  or  less  cultivated.  It  is  a  kind  of 
diet  which  demands  vigilant  restraint  of  appe- 
tite. It  does  not  increase  the  self-respect  of  a 
faithful  old  employe  to  write  a  schoolboy  ex- 
planation of  something  that  looked  badly  on 
paper  in  a  distant  office.  Actual  experience  has 
demonstrated  that  discipline  can  be  maintained, 
efficiency  increased,  and  loyalty  engendered  by 
183 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

greater  politeness  and  consideration  in  official 
correspondence.  Instead  of  the  superintendent 
or  trainmaster  writing  to  a  conductor,  "Why 
did  you  delay  No.  i  at  Utopia  when  you  pulled 
out  a  draw-bar  on  the  main  track  on  the 
32nd  ?"  why  not  say,  "It  is  claimed  that  quicker 
work  on  your  part  would  have  avoided  delay 
to  No.  i  when  your  train  pulled  out  a  draw- 
bar, etc."  This  leaves  it  open  to  the  man  to 
explain  or  to  let  the  matter  go  by  default.  The 
employe  who  lets  too  much  go  by  default  is 
soon  well  known  to  his  officers  and  his  cases 
will  receive  the  special  treatment  they  deserve. 
Some  officials  devote  more  time  to  the  gnat- 
heel  measure  of  explanations  than  to  a  broad 
analysis  which  will  prevent  future  irregulari- 
ties. 

To  some  officials,  papers  on  the  desk  are 
a  nightmare.  For  the  sake  of  a  clean  desk  they 
will  write  unnecessary  letters  and  pass  the 
papers  to  the  men  below.  The  road  will  not  go 
to  pieces  if  many  papers  are  held  for  a  personal 
interview  next  trip.  Because  it  is  now  and 
then  desirable  to  force  some  old  buck  to  go  on 
record  is  no  reason  for  not  separating  the 
sheep  from  the  goats  and  avoiding  the  neces- 
sity for  a  record  in  a  majority  of  cases.  This 
184 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  EXPLANATIONS. 

is  another  instance  where  L.  C.  L.  judgment 
is  worth  a  whole  trainload  of  rigid  bumping 
posts. 

Among  the  many  advantages  of  the  chief 
of  staff  should  be  his  ability  to  prepare  explan- 
ations for  higher  authority  from  routine  re- 
ports at  hand  without  making  a  special  refer- 
ence of  papers  to  offices  below. 

Your  old  dad  takes  considerable  pride  in  the 
fact  that  he  never  consciously  wrote  a  sharp 
letter  to  a  subordinate.  Once,  when  a  train- 
master, and  sick  in  bed,  he  dictated  in  a  letter 
to  a  conductor,  "Hereafter,  please  take  suffi- 
cient interest  to  see  that  switches  are  properly 
locked."  The  stenographer  improved  the 
phraseology  by  writing,  "Please  take  special 
interest,  etc." — see  the  difference? — which 
happy  circumstances  caused  the  conductor  to 
come  to  the  sickroom  and  express  his  undying 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  locked  switches.  A 
personal  interview  with  a  conductor,  how- 
ever, is  worth  a  dozen  letters  by  a  train- 
master. 

These  same  observations  apply  to  the  gen- 
eral manager  as  well  as  to  the  trainmaster. 
The  higher  one  goes,  the  more  consideration 
must  he  cultivate.  If  you  have  something  dis- 
185 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

agreeable  to  get  out  of  your  system  and  the 
typewriter  is  your  only  recourse,  take  it  out  on 
your  superiors  rather  than  your  subordinates. 
It  is  better  for  the  company  to  have  you  fired 
for  insubordination  than  for  you  to  demoralize 
the  service  by  rawhiding  men  below.  You 
must  carry  out  the  policies  and  instructions  of 
your  superiors.  The  success  of  your  adminis- 
tration will  depend  upon  the  manner  in  which 
you  execute  the  wishes  of  your  superiors  and 
upon  the  methods  you  pursue,  as  much  as  upon 
the  inherent  merits  of  the  policies  themselves. 
Flattering  yourself,  as  you  probably  do,  at  be- 
ing the  happiest  of  the  happy  in  the  medium 
line,  see  how  safe  a  middle  course  you  can 
steer.  It  will  take  another  generation  to  eradi- 
cate feudalism  in  railroad  administration. 
Those  whom  Fate,  opportunity,  or  desire  has 
landed  in  the  railroad  game  must  abide  by  the 
existing  rules.  If  out  of  accord  with  the  poli- 
cies of  those  above,  be  a  good  sport  and  resign 
like  a  gentleman.  Before  doing  so,  however, 
be  dead  sure  that  you  have  not  mistaken  some 
trifling  inconsistencies  of  methods  for  real 
incompatibility  warranting  voluntary  sepa- 
ration. 

A  good  friend  and  a  good  superintendent 
186 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  EXPLANATIONS. 

down  south  recently  asked  me  to  preach  a  lit- 
tle on  the  necessity  for  a  more  dignified  tone 
in  railway  correspondence.  He  cited  his  cor- 
respondence with  government  offices  as  an  ex- 
ample of  dignified  expression.  Instead  of  say- 
ing, "Please  advise  me,"  or,  "Kindly  let  me 
know,"  or  "I  wish  to  be  informed,"  they  use 
some  such  impersonal  expression  as,  "Please 
advise  this  office,"  or  "Kindly  favor  the  de- 
partment," or,  "This  bureau  desires  informa- 
tion concerning,  etc."  Some  people  say  they 
like  to  have  an  official  or  an  employe  act  as  if 
he  owned  the  property.  I  would  not.  A  man 
will  ride  his  own  horse  to  death.  When  acting 
as  trustee,  guardian,  or  fiduciary,  he  will  per- 
haps conserve  the  property  entrusted  to  his 
charge  more  carefully  than  if  it  were  his  own. 
Is  not  a  careful  trustee  better  than  a  careless 
owner?  Railway  officials  are  trustees  as  well 
as  hired  hands.  Through  long  traditions  of 
service,  the  government  officer,  however  ham- 
pered by  certain  limitations  that  are  inherent 
in  government  administration,  forms  a  habit 
of  mind  which  prompts  first  attention  to  his 
employer  rather  than  to  himself.  On  railways 
we  are  equally  loyal,  but  are  cruder  in  our  man- 
ifestations. We  have  the  feudal  conception  of 
187 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

"my  railroad"  rather  than  that  of  "the  rail- 
road on  which  I  have  the  honor  to  be  em- 
ployed." 

Following  the  same  reasoning,  it  is  better 
for  a  man  to  sign,  "John  Doe,  for  and  in  the 
absence  of  the  General  Manager,"  than  "Rich- 
ard Roe,  General  Manager,  per  John  Doe." 
When  John  Doe  acts  in  the  place  of  Richard 
Roe,  the  former  has  become  the  representative 
of  the  company,  rather  than  a  facsimile  of 
Richard  Roe.  The  act  of  John  Doe  binds  the 
company,  and  the  papers  should  show  on  whom 
personal  administrative  responsibility  must  be 
fixed.  The  phrase,  "For  and  in  the  absence 
of,"  explains  to  the  recipient  the  departure 
from  normal  procedure,  and  to  the  company's 
future  reviewer  is  John  Doe's  explanation  or 
apology  for  seeming  usurpation  of  the  func- 
tions of  higher  authority. 

When  you  have  signed  a  letter,  no  matter 
by  whom  suggested  or  prepared,  it  becomes 
your  act  for  which  you  are  responsible.  Do 
not  have  its  effect  weakened  by  showing  in  the 
corner  of  the  original  the  initials  of  the  per- 
sons dictating  and  typewriting.  Whether  or 
not  such  initials  shall  be  shown  on  your  file  car- 
bon for  the  sake  of  future  reference  is  a  mat- 
188 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  EXPLANATIONS. 

ter  of  taste.  Such  carbon  copy  record  can  be 
made  either  by  a  rubber  stamp  or  by  typewriter. 
With  the  latter  method  some  stenographers 
prefer  to  slip  in  a  piece  of  heavy  paper  to  blank 
the  original  and  to  save  the  trouble  of  remov- 
ing the  outer  sheet  from  the  machine.  The 
point  is  that,  however  desirable  such  informa- 
tion may  be  for  your  own  office,  it  is  no  con- 
cern of  the  recipient  of  the  letter.  It  is  much 
more  important  that  the  carbon  copy  should 
show  by  rubber  stamp  or  otherwise  who  actu- 
ally signed  the  original  and  became  responsible 
for  that  completed  stage  of  the  transaction. 

The  impersonal  form  of  address  used  in 
government  correspondence  precludes  the  ne- 
cessity for  printing  the  names  of  officials  on 
letter  heads.  Illegible  signatures  are  a  pretty 
poor  excuse  for  attempting  to  issue  an  official 
directory  in  the  form  of  a  letter  head.  The 
working  conception  of  the  self -perpetuating 
corporation  falls  short  if  we  must  alter  or  re- 
print our  stationery  every  time  an  official  is 
changed. 

We  are  wont  to  look  upon  government  ad- 
ministration as  typical  of  conservatism  and  cir- 
cumlocution. Some  things  we  do  much  better 
than  the  government.  There  are  things  the 
189 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

government  does  much  better  than  we  do.  For 
example,  an  officer  of  the  corps  of  engineers 
in  the  Army  does  his  own  disbursing.  He  con- 
trols all  the  component  functions  of  his  par- 
ticular activity,  including  supply  and  purchase. 
He  is  checked  up  after  the  fact  by  an  auditor 
in  Washington.  A  railway  cannot  pay  most 
of  its  bills  until  six  or  seven  persons  sign  a 
voucher.  Number  seven  signs  perfunctorily 
because  Number  six  did.  Number  six  likewise 
is  the  cat  that  killed  the  rat  that  ate  the  malt 
that  caused  the  voucher  in  the  house  that  Jack 
built.  It  all  comes  down  to  some  responsible 
man  who  handled  the  matter  in  the  first  place. 
Why  not  trust  him,  and  perhaps  one  other, 
checking  them  both  after  the  bill  has  been 
promptly  paid  ?  A  bank  check  is  validated  by 
only  one  genuine,  creditable  indorsement.  If 
drawn  to  bearer  or  to  self,  only  one  signature 
is  necessary.  I  am  optimistic  enough  to  be- 
lieve that  you  will  live  long  enough  to  see 
railways  follow  the  example  of  the  banks  and 
the  government  and  pay  a  legitimate  bill  with 
one,  or  at  the  most  two  signatures.  When 
this  is  done,  however,  I  trust  that  due  notice 
will  be  given,  so  that  the  seismograph  stations 
may  have  fair  warning.  If  all  the  old  time 
190 


CORRESPONDENCE  AND  EXPLANATIONS. 

auditors  turn  over  in  their  graves  at  the  same 
time,  the  earth  will  tremble  and  the  shock  will 
be  too  great  for  delicate  instruments. 
Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 


191 


LETTER  XVIII. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  IDEAL  RAILROAD. 

Spokane,  Wash.,  August  5,  1911. 
My  Dear  Boy: — Someone  has  asked  me 
how  far  up  and  how  far  down  the  principles  of 
the  unit  system  and  the  chief  of  staff  idea  can 
be  applied.  It  is  too  bad  the  answer  is  so 
easy.  Otherwise  we  might  inaugurate  a  guess- 
ing contest  and  offer  prizes.  The  unit  system 
is  applicable  to  every  phase  of  modern  organi- 
zation. When  its  principles  are  better  under- 
stood, you  will  see  develop  in  the  great  finan- 
cial centers  some  such  important  title  as  vice- 
chairman,  in  order  that  rank  and  authority 
may  be  conferred  superior  to  that  of  the  presi- 
dents of  the  constituent  properties.  Both  the 
chairman  and  the  president  need  a  senior  vice- 
chairman  and  a  senior  vice-president,  respec- 
tively, to  act  as  chief  of  staff.  The  New  York 
Central  once  had  a  senior  vice-president,  W. 
C.  Brown,  and  the  St.  Louis  &  San  Francisco 
created  the  same  position  for  Carl  Gray.  When 
these  two  able  men  became  presidents,  their 
192 


ORGANIZATION  OF  IDEAL  RAILROAD. 

former  positions  were  discontinued.  Puzzle: 
Find  the  reason.  Answers  to  be  sent  to  the 
Puzzle.  Editor,  Louis  D.  Brandeis,  Boston, 
Mass. 

A  prominent  railway  executive,  who  is  also 
a  distinguished  bridge  engineer,  said  to  me, 
"You  must  be  patient  until  railway  people 
can  measure  this  big  idea  in  their  own  little 
half  bushels.  I  did  not  see  it  clearly  until  I 
thought  it  through  in  terms  with  which  I  am 
familiar.  I  reverted  to  my  graphic  statics  and 
measured  organization  as  a  bridge  truss.  This 
showed  the  chief  clerk  as  a  short  ordinate  be- 
tween the  longest,  the  head  of  the  unit,  and 
next  longest,  the  official  second  in  rank.  We 
would  never  design  a  bridge  that  way,  for  the 
short  ordinate  in  between  would  break  under 
the  strain.  You  interpose  the  chief  of  staff 
and  diminish  your  strains  logically  to  suit  the 
decreased  resisting  power.  Why  don't  you 
show  the  old  telegraph  men  and  the  electric 
people  the  same  idea  in  terms  of  things  with 
which  they  are  most  familiar?  They  should 
see  that  you  can  not  step  down  your  potential 
through  an  undersized  transformer." 

Railroad  administration  is  usually  said  to 
be  divided  into  four  real  departments,  namely : 
193 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

the  executive,  including  legal  and  financial,  the 
traffic,  the  operating,  including  maintenance 
and  construction,  and  the  accounting.  Most 
railroads  place  each  of  these  departments  in 
charge  of  a  vice-president.  I  think  that  this 
is  usually  a  mistake.  Experience  has  demon- 
strated the  practicability  of  the  same  man  be- 
ing a  division  master  mechanic,  for  example, 
and  at  the  same  time  performing  some  of  the 
broader  duties  of  an  assistant  superintendent. 
Likewise  an  assistant  general  manager  can  act 
as  the  head  of  the  mechanical  bureau  in  the 
general  office.  When  we  reach  so  high  as  to 
go  beyond  the  heads  of  real  departments  we 
find  our  old  friend,  volume  of  business,  and  his 
bastard  brother,  unbalanced  administration,  to 
demand  more  balance  wheels.  The  unit  has 
become  of  too  large  a  size  for  a  single  gov- 
ernor. If  you  don't  believe  this,  watch  some- 
body try  to  transfer  a  bureau,  freight  claims, 
for  example,  from  the  department  under  one 
vice-president  to  that  of  another. 

When  I  incorporate  and  organize  that  ideal 
railroad  it  will  have  a  president,  a  senior  vice- 
president  and  as  many  other  vice-presidents  as 
may  be  necessary.  The  vice-presidents  will  be 
real  assistant  presidents,  not  heads  of  depart- 
194 


ORGANIZATION  OF  IDEAL  RAILROAD. 

ments.  Each  will  be  an  expert  graduated  from 
some  particular  department.  Such  graduation 
will  depend  more  upon  the  man  being  big 
enough  for  a  vice-president  and  possible  presi- 
dent than  upon  the  department  itself.  Since 
volume  of  business  warrants  separation  of  the 
financial  and  the  corporate  from  the  legal,  and 
of  passenger  from  freight  traffic,  I  shall  have 
seven  departments,  under  seven  general  officers, 
namely,  the  general  inspector  (who  will  also 
be  the  comptroller),  the  secretary,  the  general 
treasurer,  the  general  manager,  the  freight 
traffic  manager,  the  passenger  traffic  manager, 
and  the  general  counsel.  Each  of  the  seven 
departments  will  have  its  own  office  file.  All 
of  the  vice-presidents  will  have  one  consoli- 
dated office  file  in  common  with  the  president. 
Trusting  that  these  few  lines  will  restrain 
you  for  a  brief  period,  which  is  Boston  &  Al- 
bany for  hold  you  for  a  while,  let  us  consider 
the  application  of  the  unit  system  to  a  humbler 
sphere,  that  of  roadmaster  or  track  supervisor, 
who  is  the  head  of  a  highly  important  sub-unit 
of  maintenance  organization.  The  roadmas- 
ter's  clerk  is  usually  paid  less  than  a  section 
foreman.  As  a  result  such  clerk  is  either  a 
callow  youth  looking  for  speedy  transfer  or 
195 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

an  old  man  married  to  the  job.  In  the  latter 
case,  after  one  change  in  roadmasters  the  clerk 
probably  dominates  the  office.  He  puts  so 
much  fear  of  paper  work  in  the  minds  of  the 
section  foreman  that  few  aspire  to  be  road- 
masters.  Instead  of  a  clerk,  why  not  have  an 
assistant  roadmaster,  a  real  understudy,  pro- 
moted from  section  foreman  at  a  slight  in- 
crease in  pay  and  allowances?  Get  the  work- 
ing atmosphere  of  the  section  into  the  roadmas- 
ter's  office.  Perhaps  some  of  the  section  fore- 
men are  not  relatively  as  stupid  as  certain  su- 
periors who  take  snap  judgment  on  possible 
qualifications.  Some  people  deny  the  necessity 
for  a  roadmaster's  office.  Is  it  not  rather  diffi- 
cult to  hold  a  man  responsible  without  giving 
him  access  to  first  hand  records  of  perform- 
ance ?  An  assistant  superintendent  or  an  assist- 
ant general  manager  can  and  should  come  to 
his  own  headquarters  where  there  are  clerks  to 
furnish  him  necessary  information.  A  road- 
master  away  from  division  headquarters  can- 
not gain  such  contact  without  deserting  the 
subdivision  for  which  he  is  responsible  night 
and  day.  He  cannot  well  take  the  section  fore- 
man from  work  to  compile  statistics. 

When  the  word  superintendent  is  eliminated 
196 


ORGANIZATION  OF  IDEAL  RAILROAD. 

from  all  higher  titles  so  that  it  means  the 
head,  and  a  real  head,  of  an  operating  divi- 
sion, there  will  be  a  bigger  return  for  that  item 
of  operating  expenses  known  as  "superintend- 
ence.'' If  the  notion  still  lingers  that  opera- 
tion is  merely  train  movement,  and  that  it  is 
enough  for  a  superintendent  to  be  a  high  class 
chief  dispatcher,  the  idea  of  real  management 
can  be  driven  in  by  calling  the  head  of  a  divi- 
sion a  "manager/'  In  such  case,  the  title  gen- 
eral manager  would  have  a  logical  meaning. 
The  title  district  manager  would  fit  the  case 
where  subdivision  into  such  territorial  units 
became  unavoidable. 

When  the  telegraph,  the  telephone,  and  the 
phonograph  were  invented  the  Greek  language 
was  consulted  and  new  words  were  scientifi- 
cally coined  to  express  a  new  necessity  of  lin- 
guistic expression.  The  automobile  and  the 
aeroplane  are  founding  whole  families  of  new 
words.  As  society  and  industry  become  more 
highly  organized  it  may  be  necessary  to  coin 
new  words  to  convey  the  full  idea  of  the  rank 
and  duties  of  the  human  elements  in  a  large 
organization.  Critics  of  the  unit  system  de- 
plore the  uniformity  of  titles  as  tending  to 
merge  individual  identity.  This  is  not  the 
197 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

fault  of  the  system  but  of  the  poverty  of  the 
English  language  which  lacks  varying  termina- 
tions of  root  words  to  express  different  shades 
of  meaning.  If  necessary  to  meet  this  view 
helps  can  be  sought  from  such  highly  inflected 
languages  as  Greek  and  Esperanto,  and  new 
words  coined.  Thus  the  same  word  with  a 
slightly  different  ending  would  mean,  "assist- 
ant superintendent  in  charge  of  maintenance 
of  way  and  structures  as  classified  by  the  In- 
terstate Commerce  Commission,"  or,  "assist- 
ant superintendent  in  charge  of  maintenance 
of  equipment,  including  an  allowance  for  de- 
preciation at  the  legal  and  constitutional  ratio 
of  sixteen  to  one,  expiating  the  crime  of  1873 
and  glorifying  the  Hepburn  Act  of  1906." 

Many  practical  things  in  this  world  escape 
attention  because  they  are  so  close  as  to  be 
inside  the  focal  distance.  The  persons  most 
concerned  are  often  too  close  to  a  proposition 
to  observe  what  should  be  distinctly  obvious. 
I  uncover  my  headlight  to  the  fellow  down 
East  who  recently  showed  us  all  that  green 
flags  can  be  replaced  by  the  night  markers. 
For  the  over-specialization  of  perishable  day 
indicators  he  substituted  the  all-round  day  and 
night  marker.  The  supply  people  should  not 
198 


ORGANIZATION  OF  IDEAL  RAILROAD. 

kick  at  the  decreased  demand  for  their  prod- 
uct. They  should  be  thankful,  rather,  that  rail- 
road officials  did  not  wake  up  sooner  to 
changed  conditions.  The  new  practice  is 
worth  the  price  of  admission  if  it  only  serves 
to  do  away  with  the  delay  and  inconvenience 
of  loading  and  unloading  the  time-honored  and 
cumbrous  train  box  which  still  roams  wild  in 
some  regions  covered  by  the  Spokane  rate  deci- 
sion. 

Among  the  other  simplifications  which  time 
will  bring  is  a  logical  method  of  designat- 
ing extra  trains.  To-day  we  tell  a  man 
that  an  engine  number  means  little,  because 
the  train  indicator  says  that  it  is  train  so- 
and-so.  The  numbers  on  the  engine  and 
on  the  train  indicator  are  different  and  have 
no  relation.  To-morrow  the  engine  runs 
extra  and  the  two  numbers  must  be  iden- 
tical. When  we  adopt  the  train  indi- 
cator, should  we  not  banish  numbers  from 
the  outside  of  our  engines  and  tenders? 
Should  not  the  number  be  inside  the  cab  to  be 
consulted  for  reports  and  statistics,  including 
the  train  sheet  ?  This  would  mean  that  extras 
would  be  numbered  consecutively  in  a  series 
higher  than  the  numbers  on  the  regular  trains. 
199 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL, 

Extras,  like  regular  trains,  would  lose  their 
running  rights  in  twelve  hours.  In  this  con- 
nection, did  you  ever  figure  that,  except  pos- 
sibly in  the  case  of  extras,  the  distinctions 
"A.  M."  and  "P.  M."  are  superfluous  on  train 
orders?  Should  P.  M.  come  before  the  order 
is  fulfilled,  the  A.  M.  train  is  dead. 

The  proposed  change  would  force  regular 
trains  to  be  numbered  in  lower  series,  regard- 
less of  divisions  and  branch  lines.  This  would 
make  for  safety.  The  more  figures  in  a  num- 
ber, the  greater  the  possibilities  of  error  in 
reading  a  train  order.  A  man  is  much  more 
likely  to  confuse  2347  with  2345  than  47  with 
45.  If  the  motive  power  bureau  must  recog- 
nize the  high  numbered  union  for  classifica- 
tion purposes,  let  us  avoid  having  the  blooming 
series  federate  with  the  train  dispatcher's  order 
book. 

The  magnificent  distances  of  this  western 
country  are  reflected  in  increased  difficulties  in 
railway  operation.  Perhaps  no  branch  of  the 
railway  service  is  more  affected  thereby  than 
the  dining  car  service.  American  travelers,  as 
the  colored  soldier  said  about  the  Cubans,  are 
the  "eatin'est  lot  of  people."  The  long  haul 
for  cars  and  supplies  renders  supervision  more 
200 


ORGANIZATION  OF  IDEAL  RAILROAD. 

difficult  and  deficits  correspondingly  greater. 
The  dining  car  man  on  most,  if  not  all,  west- 
ern roads  is  attached  to  a  losing  game.  When 
poverty  comes  in  at  the  door,  love  flies  out  at 
the  window.  The  dining  car  superintendent  is 
kept  busy  retaining  the  affections  of  the  man- 
agement in  the  face  of  red  figures. 

A  dining  car  is  about  the  most  complex 
proposition  in  its  operation  that  we  have  on 
the  railroad.  It  will  be  the  hardest  to  bring 
under  the  supervision  of  the  division  superin- 
tendent and  his  assistants.  The  difficulties  of 
so  doing  are  many,  but  are  not  insurmountable. 
The  dining  car,  because  it  moves  on  wheels, 
is  an  incident  to  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
transportation.  It  is  not,  as  a  few  dining  car 
people  suppose,  merely  a  traveling  hotel  to 
which  the  railway  is  an  incident.  Originally 
the  dining  cars  were  under  the  passenger  traf- 
fic department.  Later  it  was  realized  that  they 
are  logically  a  part  of  operation.  So  they  have 
been  placed  under  the  general  manager  and 
his  subordinate,  the  superintendent  of  dining 
cars.  We  say  nonchalantly  that  the  superin- 
tendent and  the  train  conductor  can  instruct 
the  so-called  conductor  of  the  dining  car.  Let 
a  passenger  conductor  report  a  dining  car  con- 
201 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

ductor.  The  former's  superintendent  will 
probably  find  himself  helpless  to  defend  his 
man  against  the  momentum  of  a  correspond- 
ence bureau  located  in  the  general  offices.  As 
a  result,  the  superintendent  and  the  passenger 
conductor  soon  lose  interest.  They  are  not 
looking  for  trouble  and  possible  censure.  The 
outcome  is  long-range  supervision  of  a  central- 
ized activity.  The  man  in  charge  of  the  din- 
ing car  should  be  called  steward,  because  he 
cannot  conduct  a  car  even  to  a  side  track.  He 
should  be  under  the  control  of  the  train  con- 
ductor, whom  the  superintendent  can  hold  re- 
sponsible for  the  entire  train  performing 
proper  public  service.  A  good,  honest  passen- 
ger conductor  can  secure  and  retain  more  busi- 
ness for  the  company  than  two  traveling  pas- 
senger agents.  The  conductor  cannot  do  this 
if  the  dining  car  man  is  unwilling  to  send 
promptly  a  pot  of  coffee  to  the  shabby  little 
sick  woman  in  the  chair  car  whose  daughters 
are  going  to  buy  tourist  tickets  next  year.  In 
the  days  of  simpler  organization  the  good  old 
passenger  conductor  would  unload  on  the 
prairie  a  short-sighted  sleeping  car  or  dining 
car  man  and  let  the  latter  walk  home.  Because 
this  cannot  be  done  to-day  is  one  of  the  rea- 

202 


ORGANIZATION  OF  IDEAL  RAILROAD. 

sons  for  the  lack  of  initiative  on  the  part  of 
the  train  conductor.  The  lack  of  courtesy 
sometimes  shown  by  employes  is  not  infre- 
quently the  fault  of  heads  of  would-be  depart- 
ments whose  tenacity  for  departmental  lines 
leaves  subordinates  with  an  unbalanced  notion 
of  the  necessity  for  real  courtesy  and  consider- 
ation. Bowing  and  scraping  do  not  alone  con- 
stitute politeness. 

One  of  the  best  dining  car  superintendents 
in  the  country  is  Tom  Clifford  of  the  Erie,  a 
graduated  division  superintendent  and  passen- 
ger conductor.  Because  they  are  general  of- 
ficers, the  dining  car  superintendents  of  the  fu- 
ture should  be  assistant  general  managers,  and 
should  come  up  from  the  grade  of  division  su- 
perintendent, in  order  to  acquire  a  more  com- 
prehensive knowledge  of  operation.  Just  how 
to  work  out  all  the  details  is,  I  confess,  per- 
haps the  hardest  operating  problem  that  I  have 
yet  tackled.  Pullman  employes  have  a  home 
terminal  and  a  home  district  to  whose  superin- 
tendent certain  reports  are  made  and  com- 
plaints referred.  This  works  well,  although 
Pullman  cars  may  run  over  several  of  their 
superintendents'  districts.  The  fact  that  din- 
ing cars  run  over  more  than  one  division  is 
203 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

not  of  itself  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  em- 
ployes being  under  the  immediate  direction  of 
a  general  officer.  Volume  of  business,  density 
of  traffic,  shortness  of  runs,  and  other  causes 
may  warrant  varying  applications  of  the  un- 
derlying principle.  Above  all,  we  should  avoid 
those  hard  and  fast  rules  which  even  the  Medes 
and  Persians  never  attempted  to  make  applic- 
able to  dining  cars. 

Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 


204 


LETTER  XIX. 

THE  ENGINEERING  OF   MEN. 

Chicago,  August  12,  1911. 

My  Dear  Boy : — As  the  old  order  changeth, 
yielding  place  to  new,  the  last  of  the  feudal 
barons  among  the  chief  engineers  are  passing. 
Bold  have  been  their  conceptions,  faithful  their 
performances  and  great  their  achievements. 
Their  work  has  developed  those  splendid  types 
of  manhood  which  are  characteristic  of  the 
futile  struggle  of  nature  against  art,  of  the 
wilderness  against  civilization. 

Partly  because  of  better  intellectual  training, 
partly  because  of  the  rush  to  complete  addi- 
tions and  betterments  and  partly  because  of  the 
inborn  tendency  of  human  nature  to  over-spe- 
cialize, the  construction  men  of  most  railways 
have  frequently  put  it  over  on  the  so-called 
operating  men.  Peace  hath  her  victories  no 
less  renowned  than  war.  As  civilization  ad- 
vances the  struggles  of  a  railroad  are  less 
against  physical  nature  and  more  against  so- 
ciological and  political  conditions.  This  ad- 
205 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

vanced  stage  makes  for  altruism  and  compre- 
hensive cooperation.  The  problem  of  the  con- 
struction engineer  becomes  harder  when  his 
work  is  interwoven  with  the  necessities  of 
everyday  operation.  A  manufacturing  plant 
can  sometimes  shut  down  during  a  period  of 
new  construction.  A  railway,  however,  can- 
not store  its  product,  transportation.  Some 
car  wheels  must  be  moving  all  the  time.  It 
follows,  then,  that  construction  must  yield  to 
operation  rather  than  operation  to  construc- 
tion. Again,  from  the  nature  of  a  railway, 
construction  is  a  component  of  operation,  and 
the  whole  is  greater  than  any  of  its  parts. 

During  the  period  of  rapid  expansion  the 
construction  men  were  kept  "on  the  front." 
Here  is  another  bet  that  our  predecessors  over- 
looked. Instead  of  amalgamating  construction 
with  operation  and  developing  a  corps  of  all 
around  men  they  sacrificed  the  future.  The 
result  is  two  sets  of  specialists  lacking  sym- 
pathy with  each  other's  difficulties.  The  point 
of  convergence  is  the  company's  treasury, 
which  pays  unnecessary  bills.  Sometimes  these 
are  in  the  form  of  a  duplication  of  work  train 
service;  sometimes  in  idle  equipment  in  which 
the  construction  bureau  retains  a  proprietary 
206 


THE  ENGINEERING  OF  MEN. 

interest  on  days  of  idleness.  The  construc- 
tion people  may  be  awaiting  material  or  men. 
Meantime  my  work  train  cannot  be  used  by 
the  superintendent  for  maintenance  purposes. 
The  chief  dispatcher  has  so  little  sympathy 
with  new  construction  that  the  young  assistant 
engineer  dare  not  let  go  of  my  engine  lest  an 
revoir  may  mean  good-by.  Another  delightful 
but  expensive  duplication  occurs  frequently  in 
the  matter  of  stores.  Look  around  and  see 
how  many  separate  stores  your  construction 
bureau  is  maintaining,  some  of  them  within  a 
stone's  throw  of  a  well  stocked  permanent 
store. 

After  defying  a  few  times  the  official  light- 
ning our  wise  construction  Ajax  learns  to  make 
his  estimates  large.  Having  beaten  his  own 
figures  he  exclaims,  "Behold  how  much  money 
I  have  saved  the  company." 

Comparisons  of  costs  in  construction  work 
are  much  more  difficult  than  in  operation.  This 
inability  to  control  disbursement  through  the 
discipline  of  statistics  should  be  met  as  far  as 
possible  by  the  most  careful  organization.  Ex- 
travagance and  waste  in  maintenance  and  op- 
eration are  bad  enough.  In  construction  they 
are  worse,  because  capitalized  and  bearing  an 
207 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

interest  burden  for  innumerable  years  to  come. 

All  positions  have  their  inherent  tempta- 
tions. The  young  engineer  in  charge  of  con- 
struction is  tempted  to  nurse  the  job  because 
when  it  is  finished  he  may  be  laid  off.  Whether 
he  yields  or  not,  it  is  a  poor  kind  of  organiza- 
tion that  places  the  temptation  before  him.  Too 
frequently  the  construction  engineer  costs  the 
company  money  because  of  his  un familiarity 
with  maintenance  conditions.  Experience  in 
maintenance  would  help  him  in  construction. 
Before  being  entrusted  with  authority  an  en- 
gineer should  have  experience  in  both  mainte- 
nance and  construction,  regardless  of  the 
branch  in  which  he  may  have  happened  to 
start.  Check  up  your  new  branch  lines  and 
see  how  much  money  being  charged  to  mainte- 
nance could  have  been  saved  if  the  construction 
people  had  better  appreciated  operating  condi- 
tions. See  how  many  side  tracks  and  water 
tanks  are  on  curves.  Never  investigate  a  col- 
lision without  considering  faulty  construction 
and  location  as  factors. 

One  of  the  easiest  ways  to  save  your  com- 
pany money  will  be  to  reorganize  your  con- 
struction activities.  When  you  decide  upon 
some  new  line,  be  it  a  branch,  a  second  track, 
208 


THE  ENGINEERING  OF  MEN. 

or  an  extension,  call  a  cabinet  meeting  of  all 
your  assistants.  Let  the  supply  assistant  of 
your  grand  opera  troupe  know  at  which  stand 
you  are  to  play.  Call  in  the  superintendent  of 
the  division  concerned,  with  his  maintenance 
assistant.  Tell  the  superintendent  that  he  will 
be  responsible  for  the  new  work  subject  to  the 
instructions  of  your  construction  assistant. 
Let  it  be  understood  that  the  work  will  be 
under  the  direct  charge  of  his  maintenance  as- 
sistant, that  the  equipment  will  be  looked  after 
by  his  mechanical  assistant  and  the  material 
and  supplies  furnished  by  his  supply  assistant. 
Throw  the  whole  official  momentum  of  the  di- 
vision on  the  side  of  the  new  work.  Under 
the  old  order  of  things  the  division  people  do 
what  they  are  told  in  helping  out  the  construc- 
tion, but  no  more.  The  proposed  organization 
will  beget  that  extra  individual  effort  which  is 
relatively  as  profitable  as  the  farmer's  extra 
bushel  per  acre.  At  this  same  cabinet  meeting 
let  your  superintendent  nominate  a  junior  as- 
sistant to  act  as  understudy  for  maintenance 
while  his  leading  maintenance  man  is  treading 
the  construction  boards.  If,  when  the  job  is 
over,  any  scrimping  has  to  take  place  it  will 
not  be  the  construction  man  who  has  to  drop 
209 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

back.  Two  years  hence  the  maintenance  as- 
sistant will  not  give  you  the  old  song  and  dance 
about  poor  construction  causing  excessive 
maintenance,  because  he  himself  built  the  line. 
There  is,  of  course,  a  danger  that  this  mainte- 
nance assistant  will  be  extravagant  in  con- 
struction for  the  sake  of  a  future  record  in 
maintenance.  You  have  two  checks  against 
this,  one  through  the  efficiency  of  your  con- 
struction assistant  and  the  other  through  the 
division  accounting  bureau,  which  should 
handle  additions  and  betterments  as  separate 
accounts. 

Once  upon  a  time  I  ran  across  a  contractor 
grading  a  new  line.  His  organization,  the 
most  efficient  that  I  ever  happened  to  see  in  any 
line  of  activity,  made  that  of  the  railway  for 
which  he  was  working  look  like  thirty  cents. 
He  made  the  grading  camp  the  unit.  Each  of 
his  sixteen  camps  was  in  charge  of  a  foreman 
who  controlled  his  own  commissary,  his  own 
timekeeper,  his  own  blacksmith  and  his  own 
animals  and  equipment.  The  first  duty  of  the 
foreman  was  to  supply  his  men  with  grub  and 
his  animals  with  feed.  Normally  this  took  two 
wagons.  If  he  happened  to  be  near  the  base 
of  supplies  he  used  only  one  team  and  put  the 

210 


THE  ENGINEERING  OF  MEN. 

other  on  a  plow  or  a  scraper.  If  he  happened 
to  be  clear  at  the  front  he  might  have  to  bor- 
row another  wagon  and  use  three  teams  for 
supply.  The  point  is  that  he  kept  all  of  his 
teams  working  all  of  the  time  and  never  ran 
out  of  supplies.  The  railroad  would  organize 
a  department  of  wagons,  a  department  of 
plows  and  a  department  of  scrapers,  and  the 
foreman  who  kicked  the  hardest  would  have 
the  most  grub,  even  though  somebody  else 
was  short.  These  foremen  were  jacked  up  if 
they  used  poor  judgment  in  accumulating  sup- 
plies and  had  too  much  on  hand  when  the  next 
move  came.  No  clerk  at  the  base  was  allowed 
to  cut  the  requisition  of  a  foreman.  The  resi- 
dent engineers  of  the  railway  in  charge  of 
the  several  staking  and  inspection  parties  could 
not  procure  railway  commissary  supplies  with- 
out the  O.  K.  of  a  clerk  in  the  so-called  board- 
ing house  department. 

Another  noteworthy  feature  was  the  con- 
stant presence  of  officials  and  sub-officials  with 
authority  to  act  for  the  contractor.  A  general 
foreman  and  two  assistant  general  foremen 
were  riding  the  line  and  giving  instructions  to 
meet  changing  conditions.  For  example,  in 
the  afternoon  an  assistant  general  foreman 
211 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

countermanded  an  order  given  by  his  general 
manager  who  had  happened  to  be  on  the 
ground  in  the  morning.  When  a  resident  en- 
gineer in  charge  of  a  party  desired  such  au- 
thority he  called  up  the  tent  of  the  division  en- 
gineer and  gained  the  desired  information 
from  the  latter's  chief  clerk,  who  was  receiv- 
ing a  smaller  salary  than  the  resident  engineer. 
I  spare  your  feelings  a  description  of  the  com- 
plex methods  imposed  by  the  railway  account- 
ing department  in  marked  contrast  to  the  sim- 
ple common  sense  practice  of  the  contractor. 
How  much  stockholders  are  paying  for  main- 
taining the  sacred  system  of  railways  I  am 
unable  to  state.  Many  administrative  crimes 
are  committed  in  the  name  of  organization. 

One  of  the  fallacies  sometimes  introduced 
by  the  accounting  department  in  construction 
organization  is  to  have  all  the  timekeepers  re- 
port to  a  chief  timekeeper,  regardless  of  the 
engineer  or  other  chief  of  party.  A  bright 
young  engineer  once  told  me  his  troubles  in 
this  respect.  He  was  astonished  at  the  differ- 
ence when  he  followed  the  advice  to  make  each 
party  a  complete  unit  with  its  own  timekeeper, 
the  chief  of  the  party  being  held  responsible 
for  proper  time  keeping  as  well  as  for  all  other 
212 


THE  ENGINEERING  OF  MEN. 

duties.  This  efficient  youngster  deplored  the 
fact  that  neither  his  engineering  school  nor  his 
official  superiors  had  ever  deemed  it  necessary 
to  give  him  lessons  in  the  applied  science  of  or- 
ganization. Never  forget,  my  boy,  the  immor- 
tal words  attributed  to  George  Stephenson  that 
the  greatest  branch  of  engineering  is  the  en- 
gineering of  men. 

Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 


213 


LETTER  XX. 

THE  FALLACY  OF  THE  TRAIN-MILE  UNIT. 

Tucson,  Ariz.,  August  19,  1911. 

My  Dear  Boy : — Do  you  think  it  logical  and 
just  to  pay  a  train  (including  engine)  crew  the 
same  wages  for  going  over  the  freight  district 
with  a  light  caboose  as  with  50  or  75  cars? 
Be  careful  how  you  answer. 

As  I  understand  it,  the  train-mile  was 
adopted  as  a  unit  of  compensation  for  employes 
on  the  theory  that  piece  work  rewards  the  de- 
serving and  promotes  efficiency.  Whatever  the 
merits  or  demerits  of  the  piece  work  theory, 
I  have  never  been  able  to  reconcile  its  applica- 
bility to  train  service.  A  man  operating  a 
machine  in  a  shop  can  stop  or  start  his  indi- 
vidual machine,  can  save  steam  power  or  elec- 
tric current  without  seriously  inconveniencing 
his  fellow  workers  or  the  general  operation  of 
the  plant.  A  railroad  train  cannot  move  re- 
gardless of  all  other  trains  on  the  road.  Such 
independence  of  function  will  cause  either  a 
criminal  collision  or  an  expensive  blockade.  A 
214 


FALLACY  OF  THE  TRAIN-MILE  UNIT. 

train  must,  therefore,  move  according  to  a 
time-table  and  orders.  The  space  occupied  by 
a  train,  unlike  a  stationary  machine,  is  so  vari- 
able that  time  becomes  the  essence  of  the  prop- 
osition. The  train  crew  cannot  be  allowed  that 
freedom  of  action  which  permits  of  piece  work. 
Too  many  arbitrary  conditions  are  necessarily 
imposed  to  warrant  a  very  extended  applica- 
tion of  a  practical  bonus  system.  One  delayed 
train  will  upset  the  whole  day's  combination. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  task  imposed  upon  a 
train  crew  is  extremely  definite  and  easy  to 
measure,  when  the  equation  can  be  solved  for 
all  the  variables. 

So  fallacious  a  unit  of  compensation  as  the 
train-mile  breeds  numerous  illogical  practices. 
We  penalize  ourselves  every  time  we  run  a 
train  without  full  tonnage.  Conditions  of  traf- 
fic may  demand  quick  movement  regardless  of 
tonnage.  When  business  is  heavy  terminals 
are  congested  and  empty  equipment  is  scarce. 
We  all  know  that  the  way  to  relieve  congested 
terminals  is  to  run  light,  fast  trains.  This 
serves  a  double  purpose,  relieving  the  terminals 
and  increasing  the  earning  power  of  the  equip- 
ment. Unfortunately  our  fundamental  con- 
ception is  so  distorted  that  we  mulct  ourselves 
215 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

in  money  by  doing  that  which  is  an  obvious 
necessity.  Why  not  so  arrange  our  methods 
that  we  can  be  rewarded  for  quick  judgment 
and  prompt  action? 

A  shop  workman  sups,  sleeps  and  breakfasts 
at  his  own  home.  A  train  crew  must  have  in- 
creased expenses  when  away  from  the  home 
terminal.  A  train  crew  would  really  be  ahead 
of  the  game  as  far  as  expenses  are  concerned  if 
a  round  trip  could  be  made  within  the  sixteen- 
hour  limit  and  the  away-from-home  terminal 
expenses  avoided.  We  say  that  demurrage  is 
imposed  primarily  to  hasten  the  release  of 
equipment.  We  claim  that  normally  we  would 
rather  have  the  cars  than  the  dollars  of  demur- 
rage. If  cars  are  so  valuable,  how  much  should 
we  charge  ourselves  for  the  hire  of  the  fifty 
cars  which  are  twelve  or  fifteen  hours  getting 
over  the  district? 

We  can  work  out  by  a  mathematical  formula 
the  most  economical  scheme  for  fuel  consump- 
tion and  maximum  tractive  effort.  It  is  more 
difficult  to  devise  a  formula  to  express  the 
effect  of  drastic  laws  caused  by  poor  service. 
Attempting  to  club  converging  live  stock  runs 
in  big  trains  has  caused,  in  some  states,  legisla- 
tion covering  the  movement  of  stock.  Perhaps 
216 


FALLACY  OF  THE  TRAIN-MILE  UNIT. 

this  is  offset  by  the  claims  save  for  missing 
the  market  with  delayed  stock.  Is  it  not  a  sad 
commentary  to  think  that  legislation  is  neces- 
sary to  make  us  do  what  is  for  our  own  best 
interests  ? 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  for  a  heavy  and 
regular  movement  of  low  grade  commodities 
on  two  or  four  track  roads  the  big  train  is 
logical  and  economical.  Most  of  the  prairie 
roads  are  single  track.  Most  of  the  distances 
between  the  prairie  cities  are  relatively  long. 
Stock,  perishable  freight  and  merchandise 
must  have  rapid  movement.  Is  it  wise  under 
such  a  disparity  of  conditions  to  make  the 
train-mile  rigid  and  sacred?  Why  not  pay 
men  by  the  hour,  with  a  monthly  guarantee, 
and  run  trains  sometimes  light  and  sometimes 
heavy,  sometimes  fast  and  sometimes  slow,  to 
meet  actual  controlling  conditions  of  traffic? 
When  business  happened  to  be  light,  equip- 
ment plentiful,  and  terminals  open  we  would 
penalize  ourselves  in  wages  for  slower  move- 
ment, but  would  save  in  fuel,  in  engine  house 
expense,  etc.  Just  where  the  economical  limit 
would  be,  just  how  it  would  all  work  out,  I  do 
not  pretend  to  say.  I  do  say,  however,  that  the 
old  methods  can  be  improved  when  we  start 
217 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

from  proper  basic  conceptions.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  we  yet  understand  the  relation  be- 
tween increased  cost  of  maintenance  of 
equipment  and  decreased  wages  for  train 
crews. 

Perhaps  because  I  had  the  honor  of  braking 
on  a  way  freight  I  have  never  outgrown 
the  idea  of  the  practical  trainman  that  a 
local  freight  is  a  traveling  switch  engine 
and  a  peddler  of  L.  C.  L.  merchandise. 
Whatever  may  be  the  showing  as  to  per- 
centage of  tractive  power  utilized  I  am 
unable  to  see  the  wisdom  of  a  way  freight 
dragging  in  and  out  of  passing  tracks  all  day 
with  a  lot  of  through  cars.  The  claim  is  often 
made  that  a  few  big  trains  can  be  easily  hand- 
led by  the  dispatcher,  because  the  number  of 
meeting  points  is  decreased.  My  own  opinion 
is  that  this  seeming  advantage  is  often  more 
than  offset  by  the  unwieldiness  of  the  big  train. 
Fear  of  censure  for  delaying  some  important 
train  makes  the  conductor  "leery"  about  start- 
ing and  the  dispatcher  timid  about  directing  a 
prompt  movement.  When  we  begin  wrong, 
how  not-to-do-it  methods  always  follow.  The 
chief  dispatcher  will  let  freight  be  delayed  in 
a  yard  for  a  full  train  with  power  needed  at 
218 


FALLACY  OF  THE  TRAIN-MILE  UNIT. 

the  other  end,  if  he  can  start  a  light  caboose 
without  its  being  included  in  the  average  train 
load  showing.  How  much  better,  and  how 
much  easier,  to  run  two  fractional  trains  in 
the  direction  of  unbalanced  traffic  than  one 
light  caboose  and  another  dreary  drag!  The 
shipper,  only  a  hard-headed  business  man, 
takes  the  same  view.  He  becomes  skeptical 
of  all  our  statements,  before  commissions  or 
elsewhere,  because  of  our  frequent  seeming 
lack  of  judgment. 

Let  us  not  spend  too  much  time  in  discus- 
sion as  to  theoretical  possibilities.  My  asser- 
tions can  be  either  proved  or  disproved  by  ac- 
tual demonstration.  In  the  next  labor  agree- 
ments you  make  include  a  stipulation  for  ex- 
periment on  some  division.  My  prediction  is 
that  if  you  can  convince  the  labor  leaders  of 
your  fairness  they  will  give  the  scheme  a  trial 
for  the  sake  of  more  possible  time  at  home. 
With  a  full  trial  the  results  will  speak  for 
themselves.  Success  in  such  matters  is  made 
possible  only  by  enlisting  the  most  intelligent 
efforts  of  all  concerned.  Let  your  officials  and 
employes  understand  that  you  do  not  claim  to 
know  it  all,  that  you  believe  in  their  practical 
intelligence  as  well  as  in  your  own,  that  ideas 
219 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

are  greater  than  men,  and  that  right  wrongs 
no  man. 

Railroads  have  grown  so  fast  that  our  con- 
ceptions of  working  units  have  sometimes  out- 
stripped practical  possibilities  in  performance. 
Too  frequently  we  make  the  unit  too  large. 
There  must  be  a  practical  limit  beyond  which 
the  train  becomes  too  long  for  an  economical 
unit  of  movement.  The  fact  that  we  should 
have  elasticity  rather  than  rigidity  in  the  size 
of  our  economical  train  emphasizes  the  neces- 
sity for  defining  the  elastic  limit.  Practical 
experience  and  sound  judgment  must  aid  in 
interpreting  and  applying  not  only  the  laws 
of  matter  and  physical  nature,  but  the  laws  of 
sociology  and  human  nature  as  well.  After 
the  lading  for  the  trip  is  discharged,  the  car 
cannot  be  sold  or  abandoned,  as  was  the  flat 
boat  which  Abraham  Lincoln  helped  to  float 
down  the  Mississippi  river  to  New  Orleans. 
Have  you  not  seen  cars  pulled  to  pieces  in  big 
trains,  have  you  not  seen  freight  delayed  in 
a  manner  to  suggest  to  an  innocent  bystander 
that  the  road  was  perhaps  running  its  last  train 
and  giving  its  cars  their  last  load  ? 

The  inevitable  tendency  of  the  big  train  is 
to  hold  back  and  combine  in  large  lots  cars 

220 


FALLACY  OF  THE  TRAIN-MILE  UNIT. 

destined  to  the  same  point  and  to  the  same  con- 
signee. When  a  whole  train  can  be  unloaded 
at  the  ship's  side  at  tidewater,  or  at  a  large 
consuming  plant,  the  system  is  ideal.  The 
trouble  begins  with  the  small  consignee.  In- 
stead of  giving  him  a  regular,  systematic  de- 
livery of  the  five  or  ten  cars  which  he  can  un- 
load each  day,  our  tendency  is  to  bring  in 
twenty-five  or  fifty  cars  every  five  days  or  so, 
and  then  express  our  horrified  astonishment 
at  his  failure  to  release  promptly.  No,  we 
should  not  run  special  trains  of  five  or  ten  cars 
for  each  consignee.  What  we  should  do  is  to 
watch  the  matter  so  carefully  that  we  can  feel 
certain  we  are  considering  all  the  factors  of 
expense  as  well  as  that  of  seeming  light  ton- 
nage. It  may,  under  given  conditions,  be 
cheaper  to  run  light  trains  than  to  put  on  ex- 
pensive switch  engines,  to  relieve  unnecessary 
congestion  in  receiving  terminals,  than  to  in- 
crease overtime  and  demoralize  the  road  by 
pulling  out  drawbars  when  sawing  by  at  short 
passing  tracks.  Sometimes  money  can  be  saved 
by  balancing  motive  power  as  between  steep 
and  level  territory. 

As  a  good  soldier  and  a  faithful  hired  hand 
you  must  build  up  for  yourself  and  your  supe- 
221 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

riors  the  best  possible  record  for  train  load. 
Carry  out  the  policy  consistently  and  loyally. 
At  the  same  time  study  the  subject.  Do  not 
have  to  flag  in,  but  be  prepared  to  run  as  a  sec- 
tion of  a  better  unit  of  comparison  when  the 
train  mile  loses  its  first  class  running  rights. 
Speaking  of  running  in  sections,  you  have 
doubtless  thought  how  inconsistent  and  almost 
criminally  dangerous  is  the  method  of  display- 
ing signals.  We  drill  our  men  to  watch  the 
rear  of  the  train  for  the  presence  of  something, 
the  markers,  a  positive  indication.  When  the 
markers  are  seen,  the  train  is  complete  and  the 
opposing  train  can  proceed  in  safety.  If  the 
train  happens  to  be  complete  without  displaying 
markers,  or  the  markers  are  overlooked,  the 
opposing  train  declines  to  proceed.  An  avoid- 
able delay  occurs,  but  the  error  is  on  the  side 
of  safety  and  away  from  a  collision.  At  the 
head  end,  however,  we  tell  our  men  to  watch 
for  the  absence  of  something,  the  classifica- 
tion signals,  a  negative  condition.  When  clas- 
sification signals  are  not  seen  the  train  schedule 
is  complete  and  the  opposing  train  proceeds 
in  fancied  safety.  If  the  train  happens  to  be 
incomplete  without  displaying  signals  or  the 
signals  are  overlooked,  the  opposing  train  pro- 
222 


FALLACY  OF  THE  TRAIN-MILE  UNIT. 

ceeds  just  the  same.  No  delay  occurs,  but 
probably  a  collision,  for  the  error  is  on  the  side 
of  danger  and  toward  a  collision.  The  prac- 
tice should  be  reversed.  The  last  or  only  sec- 
tion should  display  classification  signals.  A 
positive  indication  should  replace  a  negative. 
Can  the  train  rules  committee  of  the  ladylike 
American  Railway  Association  beat  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission  to  this  unpro- 
tected draw?  Cases  of  such  avoidable  colli- 
sions can  be  cited,  even  though  "we  never  had 
one  on  our  road." 

Some  roads  prefer  special  schedules  and  ex- 
tra trains  to  movement  in  sections.  On  the 
good  old  Big  Four  we  handled  everything  pos- 
sible in  sections.  I  think  this  latter  method 
the  better.  Theoretically  yardmen,  section 
men,  tower  men  and  all  others  should  be  al- 
ways prepared  for  extra  trains.  Practically, 
the  more  information  that  can  be  disseminated 
among  intelligent  men  the  more  effectively  can 
they  cooperate  in  preventing  disaster  or  delay. 
There  are  fewer  unlocked  switches  and  fewer 
unspiked  rails  when  information  is  not  locked 
in  the  dispatcher's  office  and  not  spiked  down 
by  too  many  train  orders. 

Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 
223 


LETTER  XXL 

THE   MAN-DAY    AS    A    UNIT. 

Tucson,  Ariz.,  August  26,  1911. 
My  Dear  Boy : — If  people's  eyes  were  never 
too  large  for  their  stomachs  there  would  be 
less  overeating.  If  human  concepts  were  never 
too  vast  for  practical  performance  there  would 
be  fewer  disappointments  in  administration. 
Because  the  railroads  have  grown  so  fast  and 
have  become  so  large,  our  imagination  has 
sometimes  run  too  far  ahead  of  our  judgment. 
This  is  a  big  world  full  of  big  things  and  big 
men.  The  biggest  men  are  learning  that  big 
things  can  be  handled  and  big  men  developed 
only  by  complete  treatment  of  little  things  and 
of  the  so-called  little  men.  This  growing  con- 
viction is  manifesting  itself  in  various  ways. 
Railways,  thank  God,  are  building  more  divi- 
sion shops  and  relatively  fewer  general  shops. 
Division  stores  are  becoming  more  and  more 
complete.  Division  accounting  is  gaining 
ground  and  is  paving  the  way  for  local  dis- 
bursement. 

224 


THE  MAN-DAY  AS  A  UNIT. 

The  station  agent,  bless  him,  is  being  emanci- 
pated by  the  telephone  from  specialized  selec- 
tion, and  is  gradually  being  accorded  that  rec- 
ognition which  is  his  due  as  an  all  'round  man. 
In  short,  our  big  corporate  units  are  growing 
in  strength  only  as  the  smaller  units  become 
complete  and  self-contained.  Official  solici- 
tude should  be  for  ton-miles,  as  well  as  for 
train-miles,  for  car-loads  as  well  as  for  train- 
loads.  Take  care  of  the  mills  and  the  millions 
will  take  care  of  themselves.  Above  all,  study 
an  often  neglected  unit,  the  man-day.  How 
much  work  can  each  man  reasonably  be  ex- 
pected to  perform  in  one  day?  How  many 
days  in  each  year  can  a  man  reasonably  expect 
to  be  employed  ?  Labor  conditions  on  railways 
will  never  be  satisfactory  until  employment  can 
be  reasonably  constant  and  continuous.  This 
is  a  difficult  problem,  but  when  enough  big 
men  give  it  attention  it  will  be  solved.  It 
probably  means  more  elasticity,  more  inter- 
changeability  between  train  service  and  the 
various  kinds  of  maintenance,  between  the  lo- 
motive  and  the  shop,  between  the  railway  and 
allied  contiguous  industries.  The  individual  is 
the  indivisible  unit  of  society.  We  must  build 
from  him  as  a  unit.  Since  he  is  of  such  infinite 
225 


LETTERS  FROM  A  RAILWAY  OFFICIAL. 

variety  it  follows  that  our  sociological  archi- 
tecture must  be  varied  accordingly.  Design  is 
staff  work.  Execution  is  line  work.  I  do  not 
doubt  the  ability  of  one  man  to  direct  the 
carrying  out  of  a  scheme  practically  designed. 
When  one  man  tells  me  that  unassisted  he  can 
furnish  a  design  to  meet  all  requirements  I 
am  from  beyond  Missouri  and  have  to  be 
shown  several  times. 

I  have  been  writing  you  all  these  things  be- 
cause of  interest  in  you  and  pride  in  our  pro- 
fession. With  four  or  five  other  professions 
and  occupations  at  command,  I  stick  to  the  rail- 
road game  because  it  is  the  greatest  of  ancient 
or  modern  times.  If  these  letters,  written  hur- 
riedly in  the  midst  of  a  strenuous  life,  with  lit- 
tle opportunity  for  revision  and  verification, 
have  hurt  anyone's  feelings,  I  am  sorry.  Many 
things  in  this  world  are  taken  too  personally 
and  too  seriously  when  intended  as  only  Pick- 
wickian. 

If  these  letters  have  helped  you  or  any  friend 
of  yours,  by  shattering  any  false  idol  or  other- 
wise, they  have  more  than  fulfilled  their  pur- 
pose. Those  to  whom  fortune  has  been  kind  in 
affording  extended  opportunities  owe  to  so- 
ciety the  duty  of  imparting  their  conclusions 
226 


THE  MAN-DAY  AS  A  UNIT. 

to  their  fellows.  The  recipients  alone  are  qual- 
ified to  judge  as  to  how  well  such  duty  is  per- 
formed and  as  to  how  far  such  conclusions  are 
worth  while.  In  this  case  the  duty  has  been 
a  pleasure  as  well. 

To  avoid  the  switch  shanty  garrulousness  of 
an  old  brakeman  I  now  give  up  this  preferred 
run  and  turn  in  at  the  office  my  lantern  and 
keys. 

With  a  father's  blessing, 

Affectionately,  your  own, 

D.  A.  D. 


227 


APPENDIX 
THE  UNIT  SYSTEM  OF  ORGANIZATION. 

This  system  of  organization,  sometimes  called  "the 
Hine  system,"  is  frequently  mentioned  in  these  "Let- 
ters." It  was  originated  and  installed  by  their  writer 
while  serving  as  organization  expert  for  the  Union 
Pacific  System-Southern  Pacific  Company  (Harriman 
Lines),  1908-1911,  with  the  title  of  Special  Repre- 
sentative on  the  staff  of  the  Director  of  Maintenance 
and  Operation,  Mr.  Julius  Kruttschnitt. 

An  idea  of  the  system  can  be  obtained  from  the 
two  following  standard  forms  of  official  circulars  for 
announcing  its  adoption: — 


RAIL COMPANY. 

OFFICE  OF  GENERAL  MANAGER. 

CIRCULAR    NO 

191.. 

The    following    appointments    of    Assistant    General 

Managers  are  announced,   effective    191 .. 

i.  Mr 2.  Mr 

3.  Mr 4.  Mr •. 

5.  Mr 6.  Mr 

7.  Mr 8.  Mr 

Each  of  the  above  named  officials  continues  charged 
with  the  responsibilities  heretofore  devolving  upon  him 
228 


APPENDIX. 

and  in  addition  assumes  such  other  duties  as  may  from 
time  to  time  be  assigned. 

The  titles,  General  Superintendent,  Superintendent 
of  Motive  Power,  Chief  Engineer,  Superintendent  of 
Transportation,  General  Storekeeper,  Superintendent 
of  Telegraph,  and  Superintendent  of  Dining  Cars,  will 
be  retained  by  the  present  holders  or  their  successors 
to  such  extent  only  as  may  be  necessary  for  a  proper 
compliance  with  laws  and  existing  contracts. 

All  persons  under  the  jurisdiction  of  this  office  will 
address  reports  and  communications,  including  replies, 
intended  for  the  General  Manager  or  for  any  Assistant 
General  Manager,  simply:  "Assistant  General  Man- 
ager" (Company  telegrams,  "A.  G.  M."),  no  name 
being  used  in  the  address  unless  intended  as  personal 
or  confidential  or  to  reach  an  official  away  from  his 
headquarters. 

It  is  intended  that  an  Assistant  General  Manager 
shall  be  in  charge  of  this  office  during  office  hours. 
Each  official  transacts  business  in  his  own  name  and 
no  person  should  sign  the  name  or  initials  of  another. 

All  persons  outside  the  jurisdiction  of  this  office  are 
requested  to  address  communications,  including  replies, 
intended  for  the  General  Manager  or  for  any  Assist- 
ant General  Manager,  simply:  "General  Manager 

Co., Bldg " 

no  name  being  used  in  the  address  unless  intended 
as  personal  or  confidential  or  to  reach  an  official  away 
from  his  headquarters. 


General  Manager. 
Approved : 


Vice  President. 
229 


APPENDIX. 

RAIL. . . .  COMPANY. 

DIVISION. 

OFFICE   OF   SUPERINTENDENT. 
CIRCULAR  NO.    .  .  . 

191.. 

Effective  this  date  this  Division  discontinues  among 
its  officials  the  use  of  the  titles  Master  Mechanic,  Di- 
vision Engineer,  Trainmaster,  Traveling  Engineer, 
Chief  Dispatcher,  Division  Storekeeper,  and  Division 
Agent. 

The  following  named  officials  are  designated: 

1.  Mr ,  Assistant  Superintendent. 

2.  Mr ,  Assistant  Superintendent 

3.  Mr ,  Assistant  Superintendent. 

4.  Mr Assistant  Superintendent. 

5.  Mr ,  Assistant  Superintendent. 

6.  Mr Assistant  Superintendent 

7.  Mr ,  Assistant  Superintendent. 

8.  Mr ,  Assistant  Superintendent. 

They  will  be  obeyed  and  respected  accordingly. 

Each  of  the  above  named  officials  continues  charged 
with  the  responsibilities  heretofore  devolving  upon  him, 
and  in  addition  assumes  such  other  duties  as  may  from 
time  to  time  be  assigned. 

All  of  the  above  will  be  located  in  the  same  building 
with  one  consolidated  office  file  in  common  with  the 
Superintendent. 

230 


APPENDIX. 

All  reports  and  communications  on  the  Company's 
business,  including  replies,  originating  on  this  division, 
intended  for  the  Superintendent  or  for  any  Assistant 
Superintendent,  will  be  addressed  simply,  "Assistant 
Superintendent"  (telegrams,  "A.  S."),  no  name  being 
used  in  the  address  unless  intended  to  reach  an  official 
away  from  his  headquarters,  or  to  be  personal  rather 
than  official,  in  which  latter  case  it  will  be  held  un- 
opened for  the  person  addressed.  It  is  intended  that 
an  Assistant  Superintendent  shall  be  on  duty  in  charge 
of  the  division  headquarters  office  during  office  hours. 
The  designation  of  a  particular  Assistant  Superinten- 
dent to  handle  specified  classes  of  correspondence  and 
telegrams  is  a  matter  concerning  only  this  office.  Each 
official  transacts  business  in  his  own  name,  and  no  per- 
son should  sign  the  name  or  initials  of  another.  The 
principle  to  guide  subordinate  officials  and  employes  is 
to  be  governed  by  the  latest  instructions  issued  and  re- 
ceived. 

Train  orders  will  be  given  over  the  initials  of  the 
Train  Dispatcher  on  duty,  as  will  messages  originated 
by  him. 

The  modifications  of  pre-existing  organization  and 
methods  herein  ordered  have  been  carefully  worked 
out  to  expedite  the  Company's  business  by  the  reduc- 
tion and  simplification  of  correspondence  and  records. 
It  is  expected  and  believed  that  officials  and  employes 
will  insure  a  successful  outcome  by  lending  their  usual 
intelligent  cooperation  and  hearty  support. 

Officials  and  other  persons  above  and  outside  the 
jurisdiction  of  this  division  are  requested  to  address 
official  communications  intended  for  the  Superintendent 
or  for  any  Assistant  Superintendent,  simply,  "Superin- 
tendent,    Division  ," 

(telegrams,  "Supt"),  no  name  being  used  in  the  ad- 
231 


APPENDIX. 

dress  unless  intended  as  personal  or  confidential  or  to 
reach  an  official  away  from  his  headquarters. 


Superintendent. 
Approved : 


General  Manager. 


232 


IS  DUE 


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